T^  PRINCETON,  N.J.  # 


Presented   by  T^&v/.  cM.  \T\.T?o\D\n50n 


Section ■-'••• 


THE    RELIGIOUS 
EXPERIENCE    OF    ISRAEL 


WILLIAM  J.  HUTCHINS 

Professor   of  Homiletics  in   the 

Oherlin   Graduate   School   of   Theology 

Author  of  *'The  Preacher's  Ideals  and  Inspirations" 


SSft^FTflfe 


SEP  19  191,0 


ASSOCIATION    PRESS 

New    York:      347    Madison    Avenue 
1919 


Copyright,  19  i9,  by 
William  J.  Hutchins 


The  Bible  text  printed  in  short  measure  (indented  both  sides)  is  taken  from 
the  American  Standard  Edition  of  the  Revised  Bible,  copyright,  1901,  by 
Thomas  Nelson  &  Sons,  and  is  used  by  permission. 


To 

MY  THREE  SONS 

Two  OF  Whom  Have  Served  Overseas 

AS    Soldiers    in    the     Great    War 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword vii 

Introductory  Study i 

I.  Why  Study  the  Old  Testament? 
II.  What  Is  the  Ancestry  of  the  Old  Testament 
on  Your  Desk? 
III.  Historical  Chart 

I.  Old  Stories  of  the  Elder  World  and  Early 

Answers  to  Early  Questions 17 

I.  The  Creation 
II.  The  Fall 

III.  The  Beginnings  of  Civilization 

IV.  The  Flood 
V.  Babel 

II.  Early  Heroes  of  the  Hebrew  Race  and  Faith.  .     39 

I.  The  Abraham  Cycle 
II.  The  Jacob  Cycle 
III.  The  Joseph  Cycle 

III.  Freedom,   and    the    Foundations    of    National 

Life  and  Faith 73 

I.  Moses,  the  Liberator 
II.  Moses,  the  Leader 
III.  Moses,  the  Legislator 

IV.  Conquest  and  Chaos , 114 

I.  Victories  and  Victors 
II.  The  Ways  of  Religion 

V.  Politics  and  Faith  Nationalized 130 

Samuel,  Saul,  David 

VI.  Prosperity,  Despotism,  and  Disintegration 151 

Solomon,  Rehoboam,  and  Jeroboam  I. 

V 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

VII.  Conflicts  and  Alliances  with  Foreign  Nations 

AND  Foreign  Gods 163 

I.  The  Northern  Kingdom 
II.  The  Contemporary  Fortunes  of  Judah 

.  VIII.  Old  Problems  and  New  Prophets 195 

I.  Two  Prophets  to  the  Northern  Kingdom 
II.  The  Prophets  of  the  Southern  Kingdom 

IX.  Politics  and  Prophecy  in  the  Days  of  Judah's 

Decline  and  Fall 256 

X.  Exilic  Hopes  and  Emphases 307 

"Judaism  in  the  Making" 

XI.  The  Restored  City 348 

Currents  and  Cross  Currents  of  Thought  in  the 
Persian  Period 

XII.  Voices  of  Judaism  in  the  Greek  Period 414 

[XIII.  "The  Daybreak  Calls" 452 

Heroisms  and  Hopes  of  the  Maccabean  and  Has- 
monean  Periods 

XIV.  Songs  of  the  Centuries 469 

Index  of  Scripture  Passages  Discussed 513 

Brief  Index  of  Proper  Names 518 


VI 


FOREWORD 

These  Studies  have  been  prepared  at  the  request  of  the 
Commission  on  Bible  Study  and  Other  Christian  Education 
Books  of  the  International  Committee  of  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Associations,  and  the  work  connected  with  them  has 
been  done  in  general  cooperation  with  that  Commission. 
They  are  intended  both  for  use  in  Bible  study  classes  of 
adults  and  young  people  in  Christian  Associations  and 
churches,  and  for  personal  study.  The  request  was  for  a 
book  which  would  form  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  the 
Old  Testament  and  give  a  guide  to  a  general  survey  of  the 
material. 

In  the  individual  Studies  are  given  most  of  the  significant 
portions  of  the  Scripture  to  be  considered.  It  is  well,  how- 
ever, for  the  student  always  to  have  at  hand  his  open  Bible, 
that  the  context  may  be  easily  studied. 

Passages  to  be  read  will  be  frequently  indicated,  though  not 
quoted.  A  story  is  told  of  an  Association  Secretary  over- 
seas, who  stood  in  his  hut,  helping  the  Tommies  who  were 
leaving  for  the  trenches.  It  was  midnight.  A  young  boy 
made  his  way  nervously  to  the  counter.  "Want  something, 
lad?"  "Yes,  sir.  I  have  a  Bible,  and  I  don't  know  much 
about  it.  I'd  like  you  to  mark  some  passages  in  it.  I  am 
going  to  the  trenches  tonight."  While  the  Secretary  was 
marking  this  boy's  book,  half  a  dozen  others  came  up,  and 
said,  "Mark  mine,  too,  sir."  If  one  will  study  the  passages 
quoted  and  indicated,  he  will  have  "marked"  many  of  the 
most  precious  words  in  the  Old  Testament. 

The  Studies  have  been  arranged  to  cover  the  daily  readings 
of  half  a  year.  But  it  is  hoped  that  this  scheme  may  be  a 
guide  and  not  a  chain.  Often  it  will  be  wise  for  a  student 
or  a  class  to  spend  a  good  deal  of  time  upon  a  single  Study, 
irrespective  of  the  arrangement  of  the  text. 

vii 


FOREWORD 

In  the  course  of  the  following  Studies,  the  writer  tries  to 
acknowledge  his  obligations  to  the  authors  who  have  helped 
him,  but  one  realizes  that  there  are  many  creditors  unknown 
or  forgotten.  He  is  deeply  indebted  to  his  teachers  and  his 
colleagues  who  have  combined  painstaking,  accurate  scholar- 
ship with  pure  and  aggressive  Christianity.  His  best  and 
dearest  instructors  have  been  the  thousand  Freshmen  who 
in  the  past  eleven  years  have  been  his  fellow-students  in  his 
curriculum  Bible  classes.  Especial  gratitude  is  due  Mr.  Harri- 
son S.  Elliott  for  his  invaluable  preliminary  outline  of  the 
Studies,  and  for  his  persistent,  enlightened  interest  in  their 
preparation. 

A  FEW  REFERENCE  BOOKS 
Abbreviations  of  Titles 

Ex.  Bi.  "Expositor's  Bible"  (volumes  dealing  with  Twelve 
Prophets,  very  helpful). 

H.  B.D.  Hastings,  "Bible  Dictionary"  (serviceable,  now  to 
be  obtained  in  a  one-volume  edition). 

His.  Bi.  Kent,  "Historical  Bible"  (four  small  volumes,  de- 
lightfully written,  well  worth  owning). 

Int.  Com.  International  Critical  Commentary  (scholarly, 
rather  than  popular,  important  for  discussion  of 
difficult  passages). 

S.  O.T.        Kent,    "Student's    Old    Testament"    (valuable    for 
careful  study). 
Other  worth-while  books  will  be  mentioned  in  the  course 

of  the  Studies. 


Introductory  Study 

Our  interest  in  the  following  Studies  is  not  scholastic.  It 
is  the  interest,  rather,  of  the  member  of  the  Association  Bible 
class,  or  of  the  student  in  "Curriculum  Freshman  Bible,"  or 
of  the  pastor-preacher.  We  would  find  and  share  "the  pile 
of  good  thoughts"  with  which  the  Old  Testament  has  been 
ever  enriching  the  life  of  the  world.  Questions  of  criticism 
will  be  subordinated.  Almost  every  verse  of  the  books 
studied  has  been  the  battlefield  of  scholarship.  We  shall 
spend  little  time  in  wandering  among  the  craters  and  trenches 
torn  by  the  shells  of  the  critics.  Happily  our  purpose  permits 
us  to  garner  wheat  and  to  gather  flowers  where  other  men 
have  fought. 

A  friend  was  telling  of  a  preacher  whom  he  asked,  "What 
are  you  reading  nowadays?"  "The  Bible."  "Oh,  I  thought 
you  finished  that  in  the  Seminary."  "Well,"  said  the  preacher,. 
"I  am  reading  it  a  second  time."  It  is  hoped  that  our  study 
will  not  be  a  substitute  for  Bible  reading,  but  a  spur  to  that 
"second  reading"  which  is  sure  to  mean  far  more  than  the 
first. 

After  all : 

I.     WHY  STUDY  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT? 

We  may  frankly  admit  that  the  Old  Testament  calls  forth 
a  somewhat  different  interest  from  that  aroused  by  the  New. 
A  man  may  scarcely  be  a  free-hearted  citizen  of  the  Western 
world  without  knowing  something  of  Jesus.  In  many  non- 
Christian  lands,  the  missionaries  have  been  unable  for  years 
to  give  the  Old  Testament  to  their  people. 

But  a  student  never  comes  upon  a  mighty  stream  without 
wishing  to  trace  it  to  its  source.  Beginnings  are  always  im- 
portant.    In  religion  they  are  of  unique  importance.     One  is 

I 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

reminded  of  the  word  of  a  man  to  Justice  Holmes  of  the 
Supreme  Court:  "There  is  only  one  interesting  thing  in  the 
world,  and  that  is  religion."  When  we  are  all  through  talking 
about  football,  politics,  war  itself,  religion  remains  the  per- 
manently, fundamentally  interesting  thing  in  the  world.  The 
Old  Testament  is  the  chief  source-book  of  the  religion  of 
the  Jew  and  of  the  Moslem;  and  with  the  New  Testament, 
the  chief  source-book  of  Christianity.  One  cannot  read  the 
New  Testament  intelligently  without  some  knowledge  of  the 
Old.  The  Old  Testament  was  the  Bible  of  John  the  Baptist, 
and  from  its  pages  he  received  the  warrant  for  his  mission; 
and  in  the  atmosphere  of  its  prophecies  he  lived.  The  Old 
Testament  was  the  Bible  of  St.  Peter;  from  one  of  its  well- 
known  prophecies  he  wrought  his  apologetic  at  Pentecost. 
One  may  never  forget  that  the  Old  Testament  was  the  Bible 
of  St.  Paul ;  that  its  laws,  which  sometimes  seem  to  us  dead 
and  mummified,  he  regarded  as  a  living  guide,  leading  men 
to  the  school  of  Christ,  Above  all,  one  may  never  forget 
that  the  Old  Testament  was  the  Bible  of  our  Lord.  "That 
book  which  was  used  by  the  Redeemer  himself  for  the  susten- 
ance of  his  own  soul  can  never  pass  out  of  the  use  of  the 
redeemed."  From  the  words  of  the  Old  Testament  the 
Master  welded  the  sword  with  which  he  foiled  the  Tempter. 
The  manifesto  of  his  new  religion  (Luke  4:  18,  19)  was  his 
re-reading,  with  a  new  emphasis,  of  an  Old  Testament 
prophecy. 

The  man  who  has  no  "religious"  interest  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment would  still  be  constrained  to  study  it,  if  he  chanced  to 
lay  any  claim  to  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  world's 
art  and  literature.  The  painters  and  sculptors  of  many  Chris- 
tian centuries  have  dedicated  their  genius  to  the  portrayal 
of  persons  and  scenes  of  the  Old  as  well  as  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. 

Professor  Phelps  of  Yale,  has  said:  "If  I  were  appointed 
a  committee  of  one  to  regulate  the  much-debated  question 
of  college  entrance  examinations  in  English,  I  should  erase 
every  list  of  books  which  has  been  thus  far  suggested,  and 


INTRODUCTORY  STUDY 

I  should  confine  the  examinations  wholly  to  the  authorized 
version  of  the  Bible.  The  Bible  has  within  its  pages  every 
kind  of  literature  that  any  proposed  list  of  English  classics 
contains.  .  .  .  Priests,  atheists,  skeptics,  devotees,  agnostics, 
and  evangelists  are  all  agreed  that  the  Bible  is  the  best 
example  of  English  composition  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
It  contains  the  noblest  prose  and  poetry  with  the  utmost 
simplicity  of  diction,"  The  words  quoted  refer  as  truly  to  the 
Old  as  to  the  New  Testament. 

Again,  if  we  had  no  "religious"  interest  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, we  should  still  be  constrained,  as  students  of  the  world's 
social  and  political  progress,  to  familiarize  ourselves  with  its 
narrative. 

The  Jew  of  Babylon  or  of  Brooklyn,  the  Jew  of  the  Dis- 
persion or  of  Zionism,  the  Jew  of  the  Ghetto  or  of  the  Lord 
Mayor's  mansion  can  be  understood  only  by  the  student  of 
the  Old  Testament. 

The  life  of  the  German  nation  in  its  greatest  days  has  been 
knit  up  inextricably  with  Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible. 

In  England,  led  by  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the 
vernacular,  "the  whole  nation  became  a  church." 

"The  common  Bible  necessitated  the  common  school.  In  the 
colonies  of  New  England,  the  enormous  interest  in  public 
education  was  due  largely  to  the  desire  to  read  and  under- 
stand the  Bible;  and  the  influence  of  the  Old  Testament  is 
more  clearly  seen  than  that  of  the  New  Testament  in  the  early 
legislation  of  the  colonies."  The  Old  Testament  has  been  the 
poor  man's  friend,  the  handbook  of  democracy.  Indeed,  it 
has  been  noted  that  in  the  conflict  of  the  people  with  the 
crown,  the  kings  enforced  their  claims  by  quotations  from  the 
New  Testament,  while  the  people  quoted  as  authoritative  the 
Old  Testament  Law  and  Prophets. 

Students,  then,  of  art  and  literature,  of  political  and  social 
progress,  cannot  afford  to  be  ignorant  of  the  Old  Testament. 
But  our  main  concern  in  these  studies  is  that  we  may  become 
more  intelligent  students  of  our  religion,  and  share  with  her 
great  teachers  their  best  visions. 

3 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

II.    WHAT    IS    THE    ANCESTRY    OF    THE    OLD 
TESTAMENT  ON  YOUR  DESK? 

Your  Bible  is,  (or  should  be,  for  careful  study),  the  Ameri- 
can Standard  Revised  Version,  bearing  the  date  1901.  This 
date  speaks  of  the  time  when  the  American  Committee  of 
Revisers  were  permitted  to  insert  in  the  text  itself,  rather 
than  in  the  appendix,  the  revisions  which  they  preferred  to 
the  readings  of  the  English  Committee.  Who,  then,  were 
the  English  Committee?  They  were  a  group  of  the  foremost 
biblical  scholars  of  England,  who  were  chosen  as  early  as 
1870,  and  who  worked  with  the  American  Committee  on  the 
New  Testament  till  1881,  on  the  Old  Testament  till  1884,  to 
revise  the  so-called  Authorized  Version, 

This  Authorized  or  King  James  Version  had  been  in  general 
use  since  the  date  of  its  original  publication,  161 1.  Its  re- 
vision had  become  imperative.  Most  important  manuscripts 
of  the  New  Testament  had  been  discovered,  not  accessible 
to  the  translators  of  the  Authorized  Version.  Many  words 
and  phrases  in  both  Testaments  had  become  obsolete,  others 
needed  revision  in  the  interest  of  accuracy.  Changes  in  gram- 
matical construction  and  in  paragraphing  were  highly  desir- 
able. But  the  Authorized  Version,  with  its  sonorous,  lofty, 
and  beautiful  English,  with  its  innumerable  associations  with 
the  deepest  experiences  of  English  and  American  life,  is  still 
deservedly  loved  and  cherished  in  our  homes  and  our  churches. 

This  Authorized  Version  itself  was  based  upon  the  Bishops' 
Bible  of  1568,  corrected  by  the  careful  consideration  of  avail- 
able Hebrew  and  Greek  texts. 

Behind  the  Old  Testament  of  the  Bishops'  Bible  we  have 
the  Massoretic  Hebrew  text.  The  Massoretes  were  a  guild 
of  Jewish  scholars,  who  did  their  work  between  the  fifth  and 
eighth  centuries  of  our  era.  They  aimed  to  preserve,  not  alone 
the  proper  text,  but  the  customary  pronunciation  of  the  ancient 
Hebrew  scriptures.  For  this  purpose  they  introduced  vowel 
points  and  accents  into  the  texts,  which  previously  had  indi- 
cated simply  the  consonants  of  words.    The  Massoretes  them- 


INTRODUCTORY  STUDY 

selves  worked  upon  a  text  which  had  become  practically  fixed 
by  the  beginning  of  the  second  century.  By  this  early  date 
the  theory  had  developed  that  the  text  of  the  Old  Testament 
manuscripts  was  divinely  authorized  and  must  not  be  altered. 
It  is  of  thrilling  interest  that  the  Hebrew  text  from  which  our 
most  recent  translations  have  been  made  has  suffered  com- 
paratively little  change  during  the  past  eighteen  hundred  years. 
As  we  trace  still  further  the  pedigree  of  your  Old  Testa- 
ment, we  meet  with  the  work  of  the  famous  Council  of  Jamnia, 
held  at  some  time  between  90  and  100  A.  D.  At  this  Council, 
Jewish  scholars  agreed  upon  the  books  which  should  be  re- 
garded as  canonical,  divinely  authorized,  and  inspired.  In 
their  final  list  they  included: 

1.  The  Books  of  the  Laiv:  the  Pentateuch,  or  first  five  books 
of  the  Bible.  These  had  been  counted  sacred  and  unalterable 
probably  ever  since  397  B.  C. 

2.  The  Former  Prophets:  Joshua,  Judges,  Samuel,  and 
Kings.  These  books,  as  well,  had  been  for  centuries  treated 
with  peculiar  reverence. 

3.  The  Latter  Prophets:  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  the 
"Twelve"  or  Minor  Prophets,  which  certainly  by  the  second 
century  B.  C.  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  divinely  authorized. 

4.  The  Hagiographa,  or  Sacred  Writings.    These  included : 

a.  The  Poetical  Books :  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Job. 

b.  The    Rolls :    Song    of    Solomon,    Ruth,    Lamentations, 
Ecclesiastes,  Esther. 

c.  The     Remaining     Books:     Daniel,     Ezra,     Nehemiah, 
Chronicles. 

These  sacred  writings,  had  not  long  been  regarded  as  super- 
latively holy  and  unalterable.  At  the  Council  of  Jamnia 
itself,  Ecclesiastes  and  the  Song  of  Solomon  had  a  hard  fight 
for  admission  to  the  Canon. 

At  some  time  between  284  and  200  B,  C,  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets  (groups  i,  2,  3)  had  been  translated  from  the 
Hebrew  into  the  Greek.  By  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era,  all  of  the  Old  Testament  had  been  so  translated.  This 
Greek  Version,  called  the  Septuagint,  differs  at  some  points 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

from  our  present  Hebrew  text,  and  is  helpful  to  scholars  who 
are  seeking  the  readings  of  the  earliest  manuscripts.' 

As  we  try  to  trace  the  pedigrees  of  the  individual  books,  we 
frequently  discover  in  a  given  book  evidences  of  various 
authorship. 

We  must  always  keep  in  mind  the  Oriental  method  of  book- 
making.  One  man  would  write  his  message,  make  his  contri- 
bution. Another  writer,  living  perhaps  at  a  much  later  time, 
would  add  his  own  contribution  to  the  older  material,  without 
giving  any  indication  of  change  of  authorship.  Sometimes  a 
document  has  undergone  many  editorial  changes.  Sometimes 
a  6ompiler  has  woven  together  two  or  more  documents  to 
form  a  continuous  narrative;  again  he  has  loosely  attached 
one  document  to  another.  Writings  of  the  same  general 
type  were  sometimes  sheltered  under  the  name  of  some  great 
king,  prophet,  or  lawgiver.  Thus  the  book  of  Proverbs  was 
given  the  name  of  Solomon,  although  the  book  itself  declares 
that  many  of  the  proverbs  were  attributed  to  other  authors, 
and  gathered  by  other  men.  The  psalms  of  many  centuries 
are  fittingly  called  by  the  name  of  David,  the  sweet  singer  of 
Israel.  Today  we  may  give  to  a  collection  of  hymns  of  the 
ages  the  title,  "The  Songs  of  David."  Jastrow  remarks: 
"Authorship  in  fact  counted  for  little  in  the  ancient  Orient. 
It  was  the  utterance  or  the  statement  or  the  compilation  that 
was  regarded  as  the  essence,  and  it  is  not  until  we  come  to  an 
advanced  literary  period  that  the  question  of  authorship  was 
a  matter  of  any  concern.  We  have  no  specific  word  for 
author  in  ancient  Hebrew,  but  merely  a  term  ordinarily  ren- 
dered as  'scribe,'  which  may  be  used  indifferently  for  a  secre- 
tary who  writes  at  dictation,  for  one  who  copies  or  compiles 
what  another  has  composed,  as  well  as  for  the  one  who 
indites  an  original  composition."" 

An  interesting  and  important  illustration  of  the  foregoing 


1  "The  oldest  dated  Hebrew  manuscript  is  916  A.D.,  and  most  of  the  manu- 
scripts used  by  the  translators  of  the  Septuagint  must  have  been  at  least 
1 100  years  older." 

2  Morris  Jastrow,  "Hebrew  and  Babylonian  Traditions,"  p.  285 — a  valu- 
able and  readable  book. 


INTRODUCTORY  STUDY 

paragraph  is  given  us  in  the  first  six  books  of  the  Bible,  com- 
monly called  the  Hexateuch  (from  the  two  Greek  words, 
meaning  six,  and  tool,  or  book).  These  books  are  the  final 
compilation  of  documents  of  several  different  periods. 

1.  The  earliest  document  is  commonly  called  the  Judean, 
or  Jahvistic  document.  It  consists  for  the  most  part  of  narra- 
tives and  laws  which  probably  had  been  handed  down  from 
century  to  century,  and  were  finally  gathered  by  prophetic 
writers  living  in  the  latter  part  of  the  ninth  century,  "under 
the  shadow  of  Solomon's  temple." 

The  following  characteristics  of  this  document  have  been 
noted : 

a.  The  customary  use  of  Yahweh^  as  title  for  Israel's 
deity. 

b.  A  picturesque  and  vivid  literary  style. 

c.  A  primitive  spirit  and  coloring  of  narrative. 

2.  The  second  document  is  styled  Ephraimitic  (or  Elohistic), 
because  it  consists  of  narrative  and  laws  apparently  cherished 
and  preserved  by  the  prophetic  schools  of  northern  Israel, 
Ephraim.  The  document  is  usually  dated  about  fifty  years 
later  than  the  Judean.     We  may  note: 

a.  That  the  document  uses  commonly  the  word  Elohim, 
God,  as  the  title  of  Israel's  deity. 

b.  That  it  begins,  not  with  the  creation,  but  with  the  story 
of  Abraham,  and  reveals  an  exclusive  interest  in 
Israel's  own  social  and  religious  life. 

c.  That  the  narratives  of  this  document  are  less  pic- 
turesque, more  subjective  than  those  of  the  earlier 
document.  For  example,  God  does  not  now  appear 
in  visible  form,  walking  and  talking  with  men   in  the 


3  The  name  of  Israel's  deity,  written  without  vowels,  was  YHWH,  and  was 
probably  pronounced  Yahwe.  But  there  was  "a  disposition  to  avoid  names 
too  sacred  for  common  use,"  and  the  word  Adonai,  or  Lord,  came  to  be  used 
instead  of  the  sacred  name.  In  comparatively  recent  times  the  vowels  of  the 
word  Adonai  were  employed  in  vocalizing  the  mysterious  and  sacred  name,  so 
that  we  get  the  modern  form,  Jehovah.  This  form  is  used  in  the  Revised 
Version,  in  our  hymnology,  and  in  common  speech,  and  is  accordingly  used 
throughout  this  book,  instead  of  the  more  correct  form,  Yahweh,  or  Jahveh. 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

daytime.  Rather  he  appears  in  visions  of  the  night,  or 
sends  his  message  by  an  angelic  emissary. 
d.  That  the  narratives  are  inclined  to  dwell  upon  the 
pathetic  aspects  of  the  patriarchal  life,  and  to  refine 
the  occasionally  crude  morality  of  the  stories  told  of 
the  patriarchs  by  the  Judean  document. 

3.  The  third  document  is  called  the  Deuteronomic.  Found, 
apparently,  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  in  621  B.  C,  its  main 
purpose  was  to  make  Jerusalem  the  sole  center  of  the  people's 
worship.  It  insists  upon  the  destruction  of  the  village  shrines 
and  dwells  upon  the  unique  rights  of  the  Jerusalem  priest- 
hood. Many  ancient  laws  are  embedded  in  the  document,  and 
the  authors  who  sought  a  compromise  between  the  ideals 
of  the  prophets  and  of  the  priests  regarded  the  book  as  essen- 
tially the  utterance  of  the  great  prophet  and  lawgiver  of 
Israel,  Moses,  in  whose  name  they  wrote. 

4.  At  some  time  between  the  eighth  and  the  sixth  centuries, 
the  Judean  and  Ephraimitic  documents  were  welded  into  one 
continuous  narrative.  During  and  after  the  Exile,  priestly 
writers  seem  to  have  worked  over  the  old  material,  fashioned 
a  framework  for  it,  and  added  some  new  material;  so  that 
many  scholars  identify  a  fourth,  or  priestly,  document.  It 
has  been  noted : 

a.  That  this  priestly  document  divides  the  history  of  the 
world  into  four  periods,  each  period  beginning  with  a 
divine  revelation. 

b.  That  it  emphasizes  genealogies,  reveals  a  keen  interest 
in  the  origin  of  religious  institutions,  and  shows  a 
preference  for  the  formal  and  the  studied,  rather  than 
the  natural  and  spontaneous  style  of  speech. 

There  is  still  much  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  precise 
identification  of  each  portion  of  these  documents;  but  their 
fairly  successful  disentanglement  is  of  immense  service  to  the 
student  who  might  otherwise  be  disturbed  by  discrepancies 
and  by  duplications  of  narratives  and  of  laws. 

The  evidences  of  compilation  and  of  editorial  changes  so 
well  illustrated  in  the  Hexateuch  we  observe  in  most  of  the 

8 


INTRODUCTORY  STUDY  .Z 

other  books  of  the  Old  Testament.     There  were  "Bibles  be- 
fore the  Bible." 

Your  Old  Testament,  then,  traces  its  ancestry  back  to  earlier 
English  versions,  back  to  documents  written  in  Hebrew  or 
Aramaic,  documents  written  at  various  times  during  many 
centuries,  written  to  preserve  and  make  widely  serviceable 
the  laws,  the  history,  the  deep  experiences,  and  the  lofty  ideals 
of  prophet  hearts  and  a  prophet  race.  . 

CoNCLUDiisTG  Note 

It  may  be  well  to  guard  one's  thought  with  reference  to  a 
phrase  which  to.  the  minds  of  many  has  come  to  bear  ia  some- 
what sinister  meaning*  "Biblical  criticism"  does  not  suggest 
a  hostile  attitude  toward  the  Bible.  An  art  critic  is  the  most 
appreciative  student  of  the  great  pictures  and  the  great  artists. 
A  critic  of  literature  is  the  man  most  certain  to  speak  in  rapt 
admiration  of. Shakespeare  and  Wordsworth.  "Biblical  criti- 
cism" is  simply  one  or  another  kind  of  careful  consideration 
of  the  books  which  make  up  the  divine  library  of  the  Bible. 

There  are  two  main  types  of  criticism:  textual  or  lower 
criticism;  literary  and  historical,  or  higher  criticism.  The 
textual  critic  concerns  himself  with  the  various  texts  of  the 
documents,  tries  to  ascertain  the  original  text  and  its  meaning. 
The  literary  and  historical  (higher)  critic  seeks  to  deter- 
mine "the  scope,  purpose  and  character  of  the  various  books, 
the  times  in  which  and  the  conditions  under  which  they  were 
written,  the  authorship,"  and  the  value  of  the  literature  as 
"evidence  for  the  history  of  Israel  and  the  life  and  thought 
of  the  time  discussed."  All  biblical  students  must  work  in 
both  fields  of  criticism. 

Let  us  suppose  that  the  original  Declaration  of  Independence 
had  been  lost  forever,  and  that  the  names  of  the  original 
signers  had  disappeared;  but  that  various  manuscript  copies 
and  copies  of  copies  had  come  down  to  us.  The  textual  critic 
of  today  would  gather  all  available  copies,  try  to  determine 
which  copies  resembled  most  closely  the  original  text,  what 

9 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

was  the  meaning  of  each  word  and  phrase  not  now  in  current 
use.  The  "higher"  critic  would  consider  the  probable  author- 
ship of  the  Declaration,  the  conditions  under  which  it  was 
written,  the  purpose  expressed  by  it,  and  the  value  of  the 
document  as  revealing  the  actual  life,  thought,  and  relation- 
ships of  the  American  people  at  the  assumed  time  of  writing. 

We  need  only  to  remind  ourselves  that  there  is  a  radical 
distinction  between  negative,  destructive,  irreverent  criticism, 
and  the  positive,  constructive,  reverent  criticism  which  makes 
the  finest  scholarship  the  servant  of  the  noblest  religion.  The 
Bible  fears  no  honest  investigation  ;  it  rather  bids  every  earnest 
seeker,  "Come  aild  see,"  Biblical  criticism  has  raised  the 
patriarchs  and  the  prophets  from  their  tombs,  and  made 
them  live  again  in  the  midst  of  their  contemporary  civilization, 
with  its  armies,  its  idols,  its  politics.  Biblical  criticism  has 
transformed  the  Bible  from  a  book  of  endless  puzzles, 
enigmas,  elusive  mysteries,  into  a  book  of  living  messages  for 
their  own  times,  and  for  men  living  now  upon  the  earth. 

in.  HISTORICAL  CHART 

Based  mainly  upon  charts  in  Kent's  "Historical  Bible." 

I.   THE  PATRURCHS 

Chapter  II.    "Eariy  Heroes  of  the  Hebrew  Race  and 
Faith." 

n.   THE  OPPRESSION  AND  THE  EXODUS 

Chapter  III.    * '  Freedom  and  the  Foundations  of 
National  Life  and  Faith." 

The  Work  of  Moses  in  Egypt  and  the  Wilderness. 
(Ramses  II  and  Memeptah  IV  1292-1215  B.  C.*) 

m.   THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANAAN 
Chapter  IV.   "Conquest  and  Chaos." 
The  Period  of  Joshua  and  the  Judges. 

10 


INTRODUCTORY  STUDY 

IV.  THE  UNITED  KINGDOM 

Chapter  V.    "Nationalization  of  Politics  and  Faith." 
Reigns  of  Saul,  David,  Solomon  1050-937  B.  C. 

V.  THE  DIVIDED  KINGDOM 

I.  The  Division  of  the  Kingdom 

Chapter  VI.   "Prosperity,  Despotism,  and 
Disintegration . ' ' 

NORTHERN  KINGDOM  SOUTHERN  KINGDOM 

(Israel)  (Judah) 

Jeroboam  I.  937-915  B.  C.  Rehoboam  937-920  B.  C. 

2.   Conflicts  and  Alliances  with  Foreign  Nations 

Chapter  VII.    "Conflicts  and  Alliances  with  Foreign 
Nations  and  with  Foreign  Gods," 


NORTHERN  KINGDOM 

SOUTHERN  KINGDOM 

(Israel) 

Qudah) 

Nadab 

Baasha 

Abijah 

Elah 

Asa  917-876  B.  C. 

Omri 

Jehoshaphat  876-851  B.  C. 

Ahab  875-863  B.  C. 

*  (Battle  of  Karkar,  854  B.  C.) 

*Elijnh,  Micaiah. 

Ahaziah 

Jehoram 

Jehoram 

Ahaziah 

Jehu  842-814  B.  C. 

(Pavs  tribute  to  Assyria, 

842  B.  C.) 

Athaliah 

ElisJm. 

Joash 

Jehoahaz 

Amaziah 

3.  Eighth  Century  Problems  and  Prophets 

Chapter  VIII.    "Old  Problems  and  New  Prophets." 

NORTHERN  KINGDOM  SOUTHERN  KINGDOM 

(Israel)  (Judah) 

Jeroboam  n.  781-740  B.  C.  Azariah      (Uzziah)      782-737 

B.  C. 

♦Important  rulers  and  dates  are  printed  in  heavy  type;  especially  significant 
events  in  any  reign  enclosed  in  parentheses;  names  of  prophets  or  of  books 
for  any  period  printed  in  italics. 

II 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Amos  c.  750  B.  C.  Jotham,  regent  and  king  751- 

735  B.  C. 
•         '  '  /^am/^  740-686  (?)  B.  C. 

Zechariah  ^, 

Shallum  Ahaz  735-720  (?)  B.  C. 

Menahem 

Pekahiah 

iJo^ea  c.  740-722  B.  C. 

Hoshea 

(Fall  of  Samaria  to  Sargon  II 
722-721  B.  C.) 

-    ■  -  Hezekiah  720-686  (?)  B.  C. 

(Sennacherib's        Invasion 
701  B.  C.) 
Micah  701  B.  C. 

VI.   THE  SOUTHERN  KINGDOM 

I.   The  Great  Reformation 

Chapter  IX.    "PoHtics  and  Prophecy  in  the  Days  of 
Judah's  Decline  and  Fall." 

Manasseh  686-641  B.  C. 

Amon 

Josiah  639-608  B.  C. 

(Scythian  Invasion  626  B.  C.) 
Zephaniah  626  B.  C. 
Jeremiah  626-580  (?)  B.  C. 
(Great  Reformation  621  B.  C.) 
Nahum  608  B.  C. 
Jehoahaz 
Jehoiakim 

(Fall  of  Nineveh,  end  of  Assyria  608-7  B,  C.) 
(Battle  of  Carchemish  605-4  B.  C.) 
Habakkuk  604  B.  C. 

2.   The  Babylonian  Period  604-538  B.  C. 

Chapter  X.    * 'Exilic  Hopes  and  Emphases." 
Jehoiachin 

(First  Exile  597  B.  C.) 

Ezekiel  597-572  (?)  B.  C. 
Zedekiah 

(Destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  Final  Exile  586  B.  C.) 

12 


INTRODUCTORY  STUDY 

Obadiah  586  (?)  B.  C. 
Book  of  Lamentations  586-5CX)  (?)  B.  C. 
Prophet  of  Exile  539  (?)  B.  C. 
(Conquest  of  Babylonia  by  Cyrus  538  B.  C.) 

3.  The  Persian  Period  538-332  B.  C. 

Chapter  XI.   "Currents  and  Cross-Currents  of  Thought 
in  the  Persian  Period." 

(The  Second  Temple  520-515  B.  C.) 

Haggai  520  B.  C. 

Zechariah  520-515  B.  C. 

Malachi  460  (?)  B.  C. 

Nehemiah  445-432  B.  C. 

Book  of  The  Psalms 

Ezra  432-397  (?)  B.  C. 

Books  of  Job,  Ruth,  Jonah  400-350  (?)  B.  C. 

Joel  400-333  (?)  B.  C. 
(Establishment  of  Priestly  Law  397  (?)  B.  C.) 

4.  The  Greek  Period  332-168  B.  C. 

Chapter  XII.    "Voices  of  Judaism  in  the  Greek 

Period." 
Book  of  Ecclesiastes  c.  300  B.  C. 
Books  of  Chronicles  c.  250  B.  C. 
Book  of  Song  of  Solomon  350-250  (?)  B.  C. 
Book  of  Proverbs  c.  250  B.  C 
Book  of  Esther  c.  200  B.  C. 
(Antiochus  Epiphanes  175-164  B.  C.) 

5.  The  Maccabean  and  Hasmonean  Periods 
168-38  B.  C. 

Chapter  XIII.    "The  Daybreak  Calls." 


A  Glance  at  the  Chart 

As  we  are  most  familiar  with  the  times  of  Jesus,  let  us 
notice  first  that  in  the  days  of  our  Master's  earthly  ministry 
Rome  was  mistress  of  Palestine,  as  of  the  world..  Before 
the  day  of  Roman  control,  we  trace  the  story  of  the  Macca- 

13 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

bees  and  Hasmoneans,  members  of  the  family  which  won  the 
independence  of  their  nation  but  fell  from  their  high  estate 
through  mutual  jealousies  and  foreign  tyrants. 

Working  backward  from  the  Maccabean  Period,  we  find 
ourselves  in  the  Greek  Period,  beginning  with  the  days  of 
Alexander  the  Great.  During  this  fateful  time,  Palestine  was 
the  football  of  the  politics  of  Alexander's  heirs  and  their 
successors. 

Pressing  back  still  further,  we  are  in  the  Persian  Period, 
beginning  538  B,  C,  a  period  which  witnessed  the  return  of 
the  exiles  to  Jerusalem,  which  witnessed  as  well  the  trans- 
formation of  the  religion  of  the  Hebrews  into  the  Jewish 
religion :  a  period  of  ghastly  cruelties,  bitter  disillusionments, 
superb  adventures  of  faith. 

We  work  our  way  back  into  the  Babylonian  Period,  the 
brief  but  momentous  years  between  586  and  538  B.  C,  years 
which  saw  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  exile  of  Judeans 
in  Babylon,  the  work  of  exilic  prophets  and  priests  who  kept 
alive  the  soul  of  Israel,  yet  forged  for  that  soul  new  chains. 

Back  again  we  journey  into  the  period  of  the  Divided  King- 
dom. This  period  began  with  the  most  foolish  decision  of 
the  foolish  king  Rehoboam  to  load  with  heavier  burdens 
the  tribes  of  Israel.  At  this  time  the  northern  tribes  engaged 
in  "a  conservative  revolution,"  which  tore  them  away  forever 
from  Judah  and  Jerusalem.  For  two  centuries  this  Northern 
Kingdom  ran  its  course  to  the  ruin  which  befell  in  722  B.  C. 
The  Southern  Kingdom,  with  the  capital  city,  with  the  ancient 
temple,  went  its  way  for  a  century  and  a  half  longer  until  its 
life  was  blasted  by  the  folly  of  its  rulers  and  the  fury  of  its 
foes,  586  B.  C. 

Pressing  back  into  Israel's  remoter  days,  we  come  to  the 
period  of  the  United  Kingdom,  beginning  with  the  reign  of 
Saul,  and  continuing  down  through  the  days  of  glory  and 
decline  under  David  and  Solomon. 

There  are  records  which  enable  us  to  reconstruct  in  a 
general  way  the  life  of  a  still  earlier  period,  that  of  the  Con- 
quest and  the  Judges.    It  was  a  period  of  slow  tribal  unifica- 

14 


INTRODUCTORY  STUDY 

\ 
tion  under  the  pressure  of  hostile  neighbors  and  of  increasing 
devotion  to  the  common  deity  of  all  the  clans,  Jehovah. 

As  we  seek  to  explore  earlier  ages,  we  come  to  an  era 
which  begins  with  the  wandering  of  the  family  of  Abraham, 
continues  through  the  centuries  of  Egyptian  bondage,  through 
the  years  in  the  Wilderness  down  to  the  Conquest. 

In  the  first  books  of  the  Bible  we  can  catch  glimpses  of 
remoter  times,  and  note  traces  of  their  life  and  thought. 

Let  us  now  make  sure  that  we  have  in  mind  the  most 
significant  dates  of  the  history  of  the  Hebrews.  All  of  us 
have  felt  a  certain  satisfaction  in  tying  great  facts  to  dates 
like  1492,  1776,  1861.  With  very  little  difficulty  we  caa  bind 
together  the  supreme  facts  and  dates  of  Israelitish  history, 
and  win  a  mastery  of  the  great  story.  Most  of  the  dates  are 
approximate,  but  will  serve  our  purpose. 

Consulting  the  dates  emphasized  upon  the  chart,  we  note 
the  probable  century  of  the  Oppression  and  the  Exodus.  We 
pass  down  the  years  to  mark  the  culmination  of  the  monarchy 
in  the  reign  of  Solomon.  One  of  the  portentous  dates  of 
history  is  that  of  the  division  of  the  Kingdom.  The  Battle 
of  Karkar  stands  out  as  a  vivid  suggestion  of  the  growing 
international  complications  of  Israel's  politics.  The  date 
helps  us,  too,  to  remember  the  conflict  waged  between  king 
and  prophet,  Baalism  and  Jehovah  worship.  The  Fall  of 
Samaria  means  the  end  of  the  Northern  Kingdom.  The 
dates  of  the  two  great  writing  prophets  of  northern  Israel 
may  be  easily  remembered  in  connection  with  this  tragedy. 
Isaiah  of  the  Southern  Kingdom  was  probably  a  younger 
contemporary  of  Hosea.  Twenty  years  after  the  fall  of  the 
Northern  Kingdom,  Sennacherib  advanced  upon  Jerusalem. 
One  hundred  years  after  the  fall  of  Samaria,  we  come  to  a 
great  date  in  Judah's  history,  the  Reformation  of  Josiah.  This 
was  speedily  followed  by  the  events  of  608  and  604  which 
shook  the  Semitic  world  to  its  center.  The  dates  of  the  first 
Exile,  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  of  the  final  Exile  and 
the  Return,  of  the  restoration  of  the  temple,  and  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  walls  of  the  city  under  Nehemiah — these  are  easily 

15 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

borne  in  mind.  The  approximate  dates  of  the  Babylonian, 
Persian,  Greek,  and  Maccabean  periods  should  be  remembered. 
Close  the  book,  and  see  if  you  cannot  repeat  the  dates  in 
heavy  type  and  the  events  belonging  to  them.  The  drill  will 
save  much  confusion  of  thought,  and  make  far  more  inter- 
esting the  great  drama. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  "What's  the  use  of  studying  the  Old  Testament?" 

2.  If  you  were  trying  to  comfort  an  aged  woman,  would 
you  read  from  the  Authorized  or  the  Revised  Version?  If 
you  were  teaching  a  Bible  class,  which  version  would  you  use 
and  why? 

3.  Why  do  you  suppose  the  common  people,  in  their 
struggles  with  their  kings,  challenged  the  royal  authority  with 
words  from  the  Old  Testament  rather  than  the  New? 

4.  Discuss  Oriental  bookmaking  and  authorship.  How 
would  you  explain  the  fact  that  the  earlier  writers  of  Scrip- 
ture had  no  "pride  of  authorship"? 

5.  What  is  the  difference  between  the  "lower"  and  the 
"higher"  criticism? 

6.  What  events  and  persons  can  you  "think  together"  with 
the  following  dates:  937,  854,  621,  608,  597,  586,  332,  63  B.  C? 


16 


CHAPTER  I 

Old  Stories  of  the  Elder  World  and 
Early  Answers  to  Early  Questions 

Introductory 

We  are  told  that  in  the  Age  of  Pericles  the  Athenian  boys 
"learned  by  heart  many  passages  from  the  old  poets,  and 
here  and  there  a  boy  with  a  good  memory  could  repeat  the 
entire  Iliad  and  Odysse3^"  It  is  easy  to  see  how  Homer  must 
have  laid  his  hand  upon  every  Athenian  youth,  shaping  his 
thought  and  conduct.  What  the  stories  of  Homer  meant 
to  Athens,  that  and  more  the  stories  of  Genesis  meant  to  the 
Hebrew  people.  While  the  Genesis  narrative  did  not  reach 
final  literary  form  for  centuries,  its  messages  were  familiar 
to  every  Hebrew  child,  and  helped  to  fashion  his  conceptions 
of  God,  of  the  world,  of  his  own  proper  attitude  toward 
God  and  man. 

It  is  our  present  task  to  study  the  first  eleven  chapters  of 
Genesis.  The  stories  of  the  Creation,  of  the  Fall,  of  Cain 
and  Abel,  of  the  Flood  and  the  Tower  of  Babel,  do  not  help 
the  mother  of  today  to  answer  quite  as  many  child  questions 
as  they  did  the  Hebrew  mother.  But  they  still  bring  to  us, 
in  their  picture  language,  truths  which  we  forget  only  when 
we  forget  ourselves. 

I.  THE  CREATION 
First  Week,  First  Day. 

I.  The  Narrative 

Read  all  of  Gen.  i,  noting  dignity  of  style  and  loftiness  of 
conception. 

17 


[I-i]       RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the 
earth.  And  the  earth  was  waste  and  void ;  and  dark- 
ness was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep:  and  the  Spirit  of 
God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  And  God  said, 
Let  there  be  light :  and  there  was  Hght.  And  God  saw 
the  Hght,  that  it  was  good :  and  God  divided  the  Hght 
from  the  darkness.  And  God  cahed  the  Hght  Day,  and 
the  darkness  he  caUed  Night.  And  there  was  evening 
and  there  was  morning,  one  day. 

And  God  said.  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the  midst 
of  the  waters,  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the 
waters.  And  God  made  the  firmament,  and  divided  the 
waters  which  were  under  the  firmament  from  the 
waters  which  were  above  the  firmament :  and  it  was  so. 
And  God  cajled  the  firmament  Heaven.  And  there 
was  evening  and  there  was  morning,  a  second  day.  .  .  . 

And  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image 
of  God  created  he  him ;  male  and  female  created  he 
them.  And  God  blessed  them :  and  God  said  unto  them. 
Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and 
subdue  it;  and  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
and  over  the  birds  of  the  heavens,  and  over  every  liv- 
ing thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth. — Gen.  i :  i^, 
27,  28. 


With  stately  rhetoric  the  writer  retells  the  ancient  story 
of  creation.  The  preacher  of  today  uses  the  best  science  of 
our  time  as  the  vehicle  of  his  religious  ideas ;  our  author  with 
like  purpose  used  the  best  science  of  his  day.  His  thought 
seems  to  be  this:  "In  the  beginning,"  the  undivided  waters 
enveloped  the  chaotic,  formless  earth.  As  the  darkness  steals 
across  the  world  at  the  evening  time,  so  the  light  quietly  spread 
abroad.  Then  a  solid,  "beaten  out"  vault  or  dome  separated 
■the  heavenly  waters  from  the  great  deeps  about  and  beneath 
the  earth.  On  the  third  day  the  abyss  of  waters  retired,  the 
dry  land  arose,  and  vegetation  began.  On  the  fourth  day  ap- 
peared the  heavenly  luminaries,  which  seem  to  have  been  re- 
garded as  receptacles  of  the  light,  that  they  might  divide  the 
day  from  the  night  and  serve  "for  signs  and  for  seasons  and 
for  years."  The  fifth  day  saw  the  appearance  of  the  lower 
forms  of  life,  such  as  swarm  in  air  and  water.    On  the  sixth 

18 


OLD  STORIES  OF  THE  ELDER  WORLD      [I-i] 

day  appeared  the  land  animals,  and  finally  man  himself,  cre- 
ated "in  the  image  of  God." 

2.  The  Message 

The  story  offers  rich  and  permanent  values  to  the  religious 
man.     For  example : 

The  conception  of  God  is  true  to  our  noblest  thinking. 
Consider  that  first  dramatic  phrase:  "In  the  beginning  God." 
Can  we  go  further  back?  Whatever  be  our  conception  of 
creation,  must  we  not  go  back  so  far? 

"In  the  beginning  f    Slowly  grope  we  back 

Along  the  narrowing  track, 
Back  to  the  deserts  of  the  world's  pale  prime — 

The  mire,  the  clay,  the  slime. 
And  then — what  then?     Surely  to  something  less, 

Back — back  to  nothingness. 

You  dare  not  halt  upon  that  dwindling  way ! 

There  is  no  gulf  to  stay 
Your  footsteps  to  the  last.     Go  back  you  must  1 

Far,  far  below  the  dust 
Descend,  descend  1    Grade  by  dissolving  grade 

We  follow  unafraid. 
Dissolve,  dissolve  this  moving  world  of  men 

Into  thin  air — and  then?" 

Is  it  out  of  "thin  air,"  that  by  merest  "chance"  there  have 
been  woven  "pageants  of  praise  and  prayer"?  When  we  have 
seen  the  great  hills — one  of  them  "named  Olivet" ;  when  we 
have  seen  "one  child  clasp  hands  and  pray";  when  we  have 

"emerge  from  that  dark  mire 
One  martyr  ringed  with  fire; 
Or  from  that  nothingness  by  special  grace 
One  woman's  love-lit   face,"  \  .  . 

must  we  not  say  that  we  found  on  that  dark  road  into  the 
"blank  abysmal  night" 

"In    the    beginning — God"? 
To  us  the  phrase  seems  trite  enough.     That  first  phrase, 

^Alfred  Noyes,  "The  Origin  of  Life." 
IQ 


[I-i]       RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

"In  the  beginning  God,"  started  the .  young  man,  Joseph 
Neesima,  upon  his  long  journey  from  the  worship  of  the  gods 
of  old  Japan  to  monotheism,  to  Christianity,  to  his  eminent 
service  as  founder  of  the  Doshisha  University. 

That  is  a  striking  sentence :  **He  made  the  stars  also,"  as 
if  God  had  flung  them  out  into  the  darkness,  a  divine  after- 
thought. At  the  Yerkes  Observatory,  one  is  shown  a  photo- 
graphic plate  of  a  portion  of  the  Milky  Way.  Upon  the 
plate  may  be  seen  two  little  pin-points  of  light,  a  thread- 
like space  of  darkness  between.  Each  of  those  points  is  a 
world  larger  than  our  sun,  and  the  thread-like  space  of  dark- 
ness is  millions  of  miles  wide.  Ours  is  a  greater  universe 
than  that  of  the  writer,  our  guesses  at  the  divine  methods 
are  more  accurate;  but  have  we  a  better  word  to  describe 
the  facts  than  this,  "He  made  the  stars  also"  ? 

The  author's  conception  of  the  order  and  progress  of  crea- 
tion is  suggestive.  There  is  a  vast  difference  between  "in- 
choateness  and  chaos."  The  last  word  of  science  is  not 
out  of  harmony  with  the  ancient  thought  that  there  has  been 
an  orderly  progress  from  primeval  inchoateness  toward  a 
cosmos,  fair,  ordered,  beautiful. 

Xote  the  author's  thought  of  man.  "In  the  image  of  God 
created  he  him."  When  in  the  earth-born  mortal  there  sprang 
up  the  beginnings  of  self-consciousness,  reason,  love,  the 
power  of  choice,  then  there  arose  within  him  the  very  ele- 
ments of  the  Godhead.  Chesterton  remarks :  "Elephants  do 
not  build  colossal  temples  of  ivory,  even  in  a  rococo  style ; 
camels  do  not  paint  even  bad  pictures,  though  equipped  with 
the  material  of  many  camel-hair  brushes."  Man  alone  of  the 
animals  can  become  a  conscious  "coworker  with  an  eternal 
creative  good  will." 

"Rejoice  we  are  allied 

To  That  which  doth  provide 
And  not  partake,  effect  and  not  receive  1 

A  spark  disturbs  our  clod; 

Nearer  we  hold  of  God 
Who  gives,  than  of  His  tribes  that  take,  I  must  believe." 

20 


OLD  STORIES  OF  TUE.  ELDER  WORLD      [I-2] 

The  writer's  view  was  necessarily  earth-centered  (geocen- 
tric). "When  •  Copernicus '  deciphered  the  mystery  of  the 
heaven,  the  movement  of  the  earth  around  the  sun,,  he  drd 
not  win  the  assent  of  Luther.  The  great  reformer,  critical 
as  he  was,  felt  bound  in  this  question  by  the  authority  of 
the  Bible,  and  called  Copernicus  a  fool.'*  Luther  was  need- 
lessly anxious.  Unless  men, are  to  be  found  on  other  planets, 
the  true  religious  view  of  the  universe  still,  sees  this  tiny 
earth  the  center,  since  men  are  here ;  and  if  there  be  men 
on  other  spheres,  those  spheres,  which  are  but  dirt  or  metal, 
gain  significance  only  because  men  :are  there.  A  baby  in  its 
cradle  is  of  more  worth  than  a  constellation  of  stars,  than  all 
the  rest  of  the  material  universe.  "'Tn  the  image  of  God 
created  he  him." 

First  Week,  Second  Day, 

3.  The  Babylonian  Myth 

In  1875,  George  Smith  announced  his  discovery,  in  the 
library  of  Ashurbanipal  at  Nineveh,  of  the  Babylonian  poem 
of  Creation.  It  is  believed  that  this  poem  was  known  cer- 
tainly as  early  as  2000  B.C.,  at  least  seven  hundred  years 
before  Moses,  and  at  least  fourteen  hundred  years  before 
the  Hebrew  story  took  its  final  form  in  Gen.  i.  Comparison 
between  that  poem  and  our  narrative  reveals  striking  re- 
semblances. But  the  contrasts  are  equally  remarkable.  In 
the  more  ancient  epic,  we  have  gross  polytheism  and  material- 
ism. In  Genesis  we  have  pure  monotheism  and  spirituality. 
God's  spirit  broods  upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  '  God's  will 
becomes  effective  through  a  word.  Set  over  against  the 
scriptural  account  of  the  creation  of  our  world  this  story  of 
the  conflict  between  the  god  of  the  spring  sun  and  the 
monster  of  the  deep : 

"Then  Tiamat  and  Marduk,  the  leaders  of  the  gods,  stood  up. 
They  advanced  to  the  fray,  drew  near  to  the  fight. 
The  lord  spread  out  his  net  and  caught  her. 
The  evil  wind  behind  him  he  let  loose  in  her  face.  .  .  . 

21 


[1-2]       RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

He  bound  her  and  cut  off  her  life. 

He  cast  down  her  carcass,  and  stood  upon  it." 

Or  contrast  with  the  Genesis  narrative  this  story  of  man's 
creation.     Marduk  speaks : 

"My  blood  will  I  take,  and  bone  ... 
I  will  set  up  man,  that  man  ... 
I  will  create  man  to  inhabit  (the  earth), 
To  establish  the  service  of  the  gods,  that  shrines   (may  be 
built.  )"^ 

Not  directly,  but  through  a  long  process  of  transformation 
and  transfiguration,  did  our  Creation  narrative  come  from 
Babylonish  sources.  ''Our  story,"  5ays  Ryle,  "appears  in  the 
form  in  which  it  was  received  at  the  hands  of  devout  Israel- 
ites moved  by  the  spirit  of  God,  and  penetrated  with  the 
pure  belief  in  the  spiritual  Jehovah.  .  .  .  The  popular  tradi- 
tion was  not  abolished,  it  was  preserved,  purified,  hallowed, 
that  it  might  subserve  the  divine  purpose  of  transmitting  as 
in  a  figure  to  future  generations  spiritual  teachings  upon 
eternal  truths." 


4.  A  Second  Story  of  Beginnings 

Read  Gen.  2 :  4-25,  noting  the  early  answers  to  the  curious 
questionings  of  childhood  and  child  people. 

And  no  plant  of  the  field  was  yet  in  the  earth,  and 
no  herb  of  the  field  had  yet  sprung  up ;  for  Jehovah 
God  had  not  caused  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth:  and 
there  was  not  a  man  to  till  the  ground ;  but  there  went 
up  a  mist  from  the  earth,  and  watered  the  whole  face 
of  the  ground.  And  Jehovah  God  formed  man  of  the 
dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life;  and  man  became  a  living  soul.  And 
Jehovah  God  planted  a  garden  eastward,  in  Eden ;  and 
there  he  put  the  man  whom  he  had  formed.  And  out 
of  the  ground  made  Jehovah  God  to  grow  every  tree 
that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight,  and  good  for  food;  the 


2  S.O.T.,  I,  pp.  360-369.     H.B.D.     Extra  Vol..  p.  S7iff- 

22 


OLD  STORIES  OF  THE  ELDER  WORLD      II-3] 

tree  of  life  also  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  and  the  tree 
of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. — Gen.  2:5-9. 

The  second  chapter  of  Genesis  gives  us  a  second  story  of 
creation.  Here  we  have  a  different  picture  of  the  creative  act, 
a  different  order  of  creation,  a  different  conception  of  God 
and  of  man.  No  longer  does  God's  spirit  brood  upon  the  face 
of  the  waters.  No  longer  does  God^peak  the  universe  into 
being.  Jehovah  is  the  artificer,  the  landlord.  Man  is  a 
gardener,  tilling  God's  park.  We  have  here  the  kind  of 
story  which  would  grow  up  among  a  people  who  had  known 
the  rainless  desert  and  the  agricultural  life,  a  people  who 
would  seek  to  explain  the  origins  and  curious  facts  of  life. 
How  did  the  world  begin?  How  shall  we  account  for  the 
relative  dependence  of  woman,  and  the  sense  of  responsibility 
for  her  protection  felt  by  man?  How  shall  we  account  for 
the  resemblances  and  differences  between  the  sexes  ?  What 
is  the  origin  of  marriage?  How  did  the  animals  get  their 
names?  Not  of  great  religious  value,  the  story  is  of  intense 
interest  as  suggesting  some  early  answers  to  the  questions 
of  the  childhood  of  the  race.  For  hundreds  of  years  Hebrew 
mothers  doubtless  told  that  story  to  wide-eyed  little  children 
in  the  tent  or  on  the  housetop. 

II.  THE  FALL 
First  Week,  Third  Day. 

Read  Gen.  3  to  examine  in  detail  this  "pearl  of  Genesis." 

And  the  serpent  said  unto  the  woman,  Ye  shall  not 
surely  die:  for  God  doth  know  that  in  the  day  ye  eat 
thereof,  then  your  eyes  shall  be  opened,  and  ye  shall  be 
/  as  God,  knowing  good  and  evil.  And  when  the  woman 
«  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and  that  it  was  a 
delight  to  the  eyes,  and  that  the  tree  was  to  be  desired 
to  make  one  wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof,  and  did 
eat ;  and  she  gave  also  unto  her  husband  with  her,  and 
he  did  eat.  And  the  eyes  of  them  both  were  opened, 
and  they  knew  that  they  were  naked;  and  they  sewed 
fig-leaves  together,  and  made  themselves  aprons.     And 

23 


[1-3]       RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

they  heard  the  voice  of  Jehovah  God  walking  in  the 
garden  in. the  cool  of  the  day:  and  the  man  and  his  wife 
hid  themselves  from  the  presence  of  Jehovah  God 
amongst  the  trees  of  the  garden. 

And  Jehovah  God  called  unto  the  man,  and  said  unto 
him,  Where  art  thou?  And  he  said,  T  heard  thy  voice 
in  the  garden,  and  I  was  afraid,  because  I  was  naked ; 
and  I  hid  myself.  And  he  said.  Who  told  thee  that  thou 
wast  naked?  Hast  thou  eateii  of  the  tree,  whereof  I 
commanded  thee  that  thou  shouldest  hot  eat?  And  the 
man  said,  The  woman  whom  thou  gavest  to  be  with 
me,  she  gave  me  of  the  tree,  and  I  did  eat.  And  Je- 
hovah God  said  unto  the  woman,  What  is  this  thou  hast 
done?  And  the  woman  said,  The  serpent  beguiled  me, 
and  I  did  eat.— Gen.  3 :  4-13. 

The  story  of  Gen.  3  has  been  well  called  "the  pearl  of 
Genesis."  Note  the  actors  in  the  drama:  (i  and  2)  The  man 
and  the  woman,  both  innocent,  ignorant,  untested.  (3)  The 
serpent,  always  and  everywhere  the  object  of  loathing,  yet 
fascination.  (4)  Jehovah,  represented  as  walking  in  the 
garden  in  the  cool  of .  the  day,  apparently  in  the  habit  of 
talking  familiarly  with  the  man  whom  he  has  made. 

As  we  turn  to  the  action,  note  that  the  serpent  tempts  the 
woman;  she  eats,  gives  to  her  husband;  he  eats;  the  inno- 
cence of  both  is  gone;  God  sees  and  knows.  As  we  study 
the  denouement,  we  see  that  first  the  serpent  is  punished, 
then  the  woman,  finally  the  man.  We  may  not  pause  upon 
the  exquisite  literary  form  of  the  story.  We  may  well  study 
the  vivid  picture  of  sin's  entrance  into  the  world,  its  opera- 
tion in  the  world,  and  its  issues  in  the  life  of  the  world. 

I.  Could  there  be  a  better  picture  of  temptation  than  that 
of  the  serpent,  slimy,  ugly,  yet  compelling?  "It  can  out- 
climb  the  monkey,  outswim  the  fish,  outleap  the  zebra,  out- 
wrestle  the  athlete  and  crush  the  tiger.  The  serpent  finds^ 
its  way  everywhere,  over  every  fence,  or  barrier,  into  every 
crevice  or  recess."  Note  the  subtle  appeal  to  the  physical 
appetite,  to  the  esthetic  sense,  to  the  intellect.  Truly  this 
apple  was  good  for  food,  a  delight  to  the  eyes,  and  a  "recipe" 
for    the    winning    of    wisdom.      Temptation    delights    in    dis- 

24 


OLD  STORIES  OF  THE  ELDER  WORLD      [I-3] 

guises.  "Why  will  a  man  insist  on  being  tied  to  his  mother's 
apron  strings?  Let  him  go  out  and  learn  something,  see 
the  world,  taste  the  sweets  of  life,  and  see  the  things  which 
are  beautiful."  Could  the  essence  of  sin  be  better  portrayed? 
For  what  is  the  essence  of  sin?  Disobedience  to  the  known 
will  of  God.  Back  of  the  sin  itself  lies  a  doubt  of  God's 
word.  Significantly  does  the  tempter  say :  "Ye  shall  not 
surely  die." 

2.  Mark,  too,  the  operation  of  sin  in  the  world. 

a.  See  how  the  sinner  searches  for  comradeship.  Eve  must 
find  her  husband,  that  he  may  share  her  experience.  One 
college  man  could  not  be  persuaded  to  steal  a  spoon.  A  hun- 
dred collegians,  after  an  athletic  victory,  have  been  known 
to  enter  a  railroad  restaurant,  wreck  it,  and  carry  home 
spoons  as  trophies.     Seldom  does  a  man  go  to  the  devil  alone. 

b.  See  how  the  sinner  seeks  to  shift  responsibility.  The 
man  blames  the  woman,  and  finally  throws  the  onus  of  the 
sin  upon  God  himself :  "The  woman  whom  thou  gavest  to 
be  with  me,  she  gave  me  of  the  tree,  and  I  did  eat."  The 
woman  in  turn  shifts  the  responsibility  upon  the  serpent,  who 
has  ever  since  been  loaded  with  our  coward  sins.  How 
often  have  we  heard  rtien  say,  "The  temptation  was  too  much 
for  me ;  no  man  could  stand  it." 

3.  Note  the  issues  of  sin :  the  shame,  the  sense  of  guilt, 
the  fear.  The  man  now  hides  himself  from  God  who  has 
been  his  friend.  In  "Pippa  Passes."  Ottima  says  to  her 
companion  in  guilt : 

"Buried  in  woods  we  lay,  you  recollect; 
Swift  ran  the  searching  tempest  overhead; 
And  ever  and  anon  some  bright  white  shaft 
Burned  through  the  pine-tree  roof,  here  burned  and  there, 
As  if  God's  messenger  through  the  close  wood  screen 
Plunged  and  replunged  his  weapon  at  a  venture, 
Feeling  for  guilty  thee  and  me :  then  broke 
The  thunder  like  a  whole  sea  overhead." 

The  friend  of  God  is  not  afraid  of  God's  lightning  or  thunder. 
He  revels  in  the  storm. 

25 


[1-4]       RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

First  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

And  Jehovah  God  said  unto  the  serpent,  Because 
thou  hast  done  this,  cursed  art  thou  above  all  cattle, 
and  above  every  beast  of  the  field ;  upon  thy  belly  shalt 
thou  go,  and  dust  shalt  thou  eat  all  the  days  of  thy 
life :  and  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the 
woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed  :  he  shall 
bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel.  Unto 
the  woman  he  said,  I  will  greatly  multiply  thy  pain  and 
thy  conception ;  in  pain  thou  shalt  bring  forth  children ; 
and  thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall  rule 
over  thee.  And  unto  Adam  he  said.  Because  thou  hast 
hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  thy  wife,  and  hast  eaten 
of  the  tree,  of  wTiich  I  commanded  thee,  saying.  Thou 
shalt  not  eat  of  it :  cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake ; 
in  toil  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life; 
thorns  also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee ;  and 
thou  shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field;  in  the  sweat  of  thy 
face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou  return  unto  the 
ground ;  for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken :  for  dust  thou 
art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return.  And  the  man 
called  his  wife's  name  Eve ;  because  she  was  the 
mother  of  all  living.  And  Jehovah  God  made  for  Adam 
and  for  his  wife  coats  of  skins,  and  clothed  them. — 
Gen.  3 :  14-21. 

With  more  caution  must  we  speak  of  the  physical  issues 
of  sin,  as  pictured  by  the  writer.  The  writhing  movement 
of  the  serpent,  the  thorns,  the  toil,  the  pain,  the  death — • 
would  these  things  have  been,  if  sin  had  not  been?  Yes,  so 
far  as  we  can  see.  The  wriggling  of  the  serpent  is  no  more 
an  evidence  of  God's  curse  than  is  the  leaping  of  the  kangaroo 
an  evidence  of  God's  favor.  Thorns  and  thistles  have  prob- 
ably as  ancient  a  lineage  as  wheat  and  corn.  But  this  is 
certain:  sin  meets  "the  abhorrence  of  nature."  It  has  been 
said  that  Palestine  looks  like  a  country  which  had  been  stoned 
for  its  sins  (or  rather  for  the  sins  of  the  Turk).  A  man 
receives  a  farm  from  his  father.  The  new  prosperity  ruins 
him;  he  begins  to  drink,  and  soon  rain  seeps  through  the 
roof  of  his  barn,  thorns  begin  to  grow  in  the  garden  which 
had  delighted  to  serve  him.     Sin  makes  toil  drudgery  instead 

26 


OLD  STORIES  OF  THE  ELDER  WORLD      [I-4] 

of  glad  labor  in  God's  garden.  Again,  if  all  men  and  women 
from  the  earliest  days  had  lived  normal,  that  is,  ideal,  lives, 
there  is  no  question  that  the  pains  of  childbirth  w^ould  have 
been  greatly  lessened.  Still  again  it  is  sin  which  has  given 
death  its  sting.  Where  sin  is  conquered,  the  grave  has  lost 
its  victory,  and  death  lifts  the  gates  of  the  eternal  city  that 
the  victor  may  come  in. 

There  is  a  touching  little  verse  at  the  close  of  the  story 
to  the  effect  that  God  made  for  the  man  and  the  woman 
tunics  of  skins.  It  is  as  if  the  writer  would  say.  Grant  the 
hideous  results  of  sin,  sin  does  not  irretrievably  separate 
humanity  from  God.  God  cares,  loves,  starts  at  once  his 
work  of  saviourhood,  not  indeed  apart  from  the  suffering 
of  the  innocent. 

The  story  does  not  tell  "the  whole  story."  In  this  world 
of  ours  there  must  be  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  else 
we  should  have  no  moral  world,  no  character.  Toil,  irk- 
some toil,  has  been  indeed  man's  life-preserver.  There  is 
a  story  told  of  Tubal,  son  of  Cain,  to  the  effect  that  he 
clambered  over  the  wall  of  the  Garden  of  Eden. 

"Long  in  the  Garden  he  lay  at  rest, 
Knowing  nor  sorrow  nor  pain. 

There  storms  never  threatened  nor  trouble  oppressed ; 
His  wish  was  law  for  each  beast  and  bird, 
They  sprang  to  obey  at  his  lightest  word ; 

Yet  he  longed  for  the  world  again.  ... 

Then  he  rose  from  his  rest  in  the  Garden's  shade, 
And  he  climbed  the  wall  once  more ; 

Back  to  labor  with  axe  and  spade : 

And  he  smiled  at  the  cold  of  the  winter's  storm, 
And  laughed  when  the  summer  sun  shone  warm 

With  the  joy  of  a  conqueror." 

Nor  does  the  story  answer  all  questions.  The  question  has 
often  been  asked,  "Who  made  the  serpent?"  Robinson 
Crusoe's  man  Friday  asked,  "Why  didn't  God  kill  the  devil?" 
In  other  words,  Why  was  sin  admitted  into  God's  world? 
We  are  not  helped   by  the  remark  that   sin  does   not  exist. 

27 


[1-4]       RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Kant  says,  "A  dream  which  all  dream  together,  and  which 
all  must  dream,  is  not  a  dream  but  reality."  The  serpent 
may  fairly  represent  those  lower  forces  in  our  nature  which, 
while  not  wrong  in  themselves,  frequently  lure  us  from  our 
allegiance  to  God.  A  missionary  once  celebrated  a  Christian 
service  in  a  heathen  temple,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  idols 
about  the  room,  he  placed  candles  to  illuminate  his  Christian 
service.  It  is  ours  to  make  our  old  masters  serve  us.  Our 
moral  evolution  depends  on  our  whipping  the  serpent  and 
making  him  walk  on  his  belly. 

From  one  point  of  view,  the  story  is  seen  to  be  another 
effort  of  early  m.an  to  fight  his  way  through  some  of  the 
problems  of  the  strange  world  in  which  he  lived.  How  did 
men  happen  to  go  wrong?  How  shall  we  account  for  our 
antipathy  to  the  serpent?  Why  does  the  serpent  move  in 
a  fashion  so  mysterious  to  us — indeed  incomprehensible  to 
early  peoples?  Why  do  we  have  to  work  so  hard  against 
thorns  and  weeds  to  earn  our  daily  food?  Why  do  women 
suffer  so  dreadfully  in  childbirth? — a  pathetic  question  often 
asked  by  those  who  knew  no  skilled  physicians  or  midwives. 
Why  do  we,  the  offspring  of  God,  live  only  to  die? 

In  the  British  Museum  there  is  an  ancient  Babylonish 
cylinder  on  which  is  pictured  the  sacred  tree ;  to  the  left 
and  right  of  the  tree  are  male  and  female  figures  plucking 
fruit,  while  behind  the  woman  a  serpent  twines  itself  about 
the  tree.  Botany  knows  no  tree  whose  fruit  would  yield 
the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  nor  yet  a  tree  which  would 
bear  the  fruit  of  eternal  life.  A  talking  serpent  is  a  figure 
of  folklore  and  literature  rather  than  of  zoology.  It  is 
probable  that  the  story  of  the  serpent  tempter  early  made  its 
way  throughout  the  Semitic  world.  There  are  still  traces  of 
the  early  thought  that  the  deity  may  become  jealous  of  his 
creatures :  "Jehovah  God  said.  Behold,  the  man  is  become  as 
one  of  us,  to  know  good  and  evil;  and  now,  lest  he  put  forth 
his  hand,  and  take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live 
forever"  (Gen.  3:22).  But  the  story,  far-traveled,  changing 
frequently  its   form  and  features,   has  become,  through  the 

28 


OLD  STORIES  OF  THE  ELDER  WORLD      [I-5I 

inspired  words  of  our  writer,  the  friend  and  teacher  of  the 
religious  world. 

III.  THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  CIVILIZATION 

Passages  from  Genesis^  Chapters  4-y. 

First  Week,  Fifth  Day, 

I.  The  Acceptable  Sacrifice;  the  First 
Murder 
Read  Gen.  4:  1-15  for  the  connection. 

And  again  she  bare  his  brother  Abel.  And  Abel  was 
a  keeper  of  sheep,  but  Cain  was  a  tiller  of  the  ground. 
And  in  process  of  time  it  came  to  pass,  that  Cain 
brought  of  the  fruit  of  the  ground  an  offering  unto 
Jehovah.  And  Abel,  he  also  brought  of  the  firstlings 
of  his  flock  and  of  the  fat  thereof.  And  Jehovah  had 
respect  unto  Abel  and  to  his  offering :  but  unto  Cain 
and  to  his  offering  he  had  not  respect.  And  Cain  was 
very  wroth,  and  his  countenance  fell.  And  Jehovah 
said  unto  Cain,  Why  art  thou  wroth?  and  why  is  thy 
countenance  fallen?  If  thou  doest  well,  shall  it  not  be 
lifted  up?  and  if  thou  doest  not  well,  sin  coucheth  at 
the  door ;  and  unto  thee  shall  be  its  desire ;  but  do  thou 
rule  over  it.  And  Cain  told  Abel  his  brother.  And  it 
came  to  pass,  when  they  were  in  the  field,  that  Cain 
rose  up  against  Abel  his  brother,  and  slew  him. 

And  Jehovah  said  unto  Cain,  Where  is  Abel  thy 
brother  ?  And  he  said,  I  know  not :  am  I  my  brother's 
keeper  ?  A.nd  he  said,  Wliat  hast  thou  done  ?  the  voice 
of  thy  brother's  blood  crieth  unto  me  from  the  ground. 
— Gen.  4:  2-10. 

From  the  days  of  the  wilderness  wanderings  down  to  the 
Exile  itself,  the  Hebrev\^s  were  in  danger  of  infection  from 
the  gross  immoralities  of  their  neighbors,  who  on  defiled 
altars  offered  now  and  again  the  fruits  of  the  ground.  Cain 
and  Abel  pictured  the  persistent  conflict  between  two  theories 
of  sacrifice  and  two  ideals  of  morality.  The  sympathies  of 
narrator  and  of  listener  were  from  the  first  held  by  Abel, 
the  murdered  offerer  of  the  more   excellent  sacrifice.     But 

29 


[1-5]       RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

the  narrative  bears  its  message  even  to  our  own  day.^  Among 
its  teachings  are  these : 

a.  The  spirit  of  envy  is  the  spirit  of  murder. 

b.  The  spirit  of  murder  is  a  brother  devil  of  the  spirit  of 
falsehood.     The  first  murderer  becomes  the  first  liar. 

c.  The  spirit  of  murder  denies  any  claims  of  brotherhood. 
If  a  man  is  asked:  "Are  you  your  brother's  keeper?"  he  may 
with  perfect  honesty  answer :  "No,  I  am  not ;  my  brother  is 
his  own  keeper,  for  he  has  in  his  exclusive  keeping  his  per- 
sonality, the  quintessence  of  his  manhood."  He  must  go  on 
immediately  to  add,  "Yes,  I  am  my  brother's  keeper,  in  that 
I  am  bound  by  my  brotherhood  to  throw  about  him  all  the 
influences  that  shall  guard  him  from  evil  and  guide  him  to 
the  good."  Cain's  question,  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?" 
is  usually  prompted  by  Cain's  spirit. 

d.  A  human  life  is  of  infinite  worth  to  God.  The  voice 
of  Abel's  blood  cries  aloud  and  is  heard  by  the  high  God 
himself. 

e.  The  universe  is  against  the  man  who  does  wrong.  Note 
how  the  earth  refuses  to  yield  its  strength  to  Cain,  refuses 
to  give  him  resting  place.  He  is  driven  out,  forever  driven 
out,  doomed  to  eternal  wandering  in  the  Land  of  Wandering 
(Nod).  Worst  of  all,  he  is  driven  from  the  face  of  Jehovah 
himself. 

f.  God's  mercy  rejoices  over  judgment.  Here  again  we 
have  that  note  of  loving-kindness  which  we  shall  hear  ring- 
ing ever  more  clearly  as  we  go  on  in  our  studies.  Sometimes 
we  talk  as  if  "the  brand  of  Cain"  were  an  element  of  punish- 
ment. In  the  narrative  it  is  rather  a  token  of  God's  com- 
passion :  "lest  any  finding  him  should  smite  him."   , 

2.  Tales  of  Antediluvians 
Passages  from  Genesis,  Chapters  5-7. 
We  pass  Lamech's  wild  song  of  blood  revenge,  precisely 


3  In  the  story  there  may  be  preserved  "the  reminiscence  of  some  prehistoric 
incident,  in  which  a  pastoral  tribe  was  exterminated  by  an  agricultural  tribe." 

30 


OLD  STORIES  OF  THE  ELDER  WORLD      [I-5I 

the  kind  of  song  which  a  Bedouin  chieftain  sings  to  his 
wives  today  on  his  return  from  his  raids.  The  three  chil- 
dren of  Lamech  are  the  traditional  fathers  of  tent  dwellers, 
musicians,  and  metal  workers.  Their  story  would  seek  to 
explain  the  origins  of  civilization,  forgetful  or  ignorant  of 
the  flood  story,  which  would  preclude  their  descendants  from 
having  much  opportunity  to  care  for  cattle,  or  to  handle 
harps,  or  to  make  spears  and  swords. 

The  ten  antediluvian  patriarchs  resemble,  in  respect  to  their 
enormous  ages,  the  ten  kings  of  the  Babylonian  legend  with 
their  yet  greater  longevity.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that 
Enmeduranki  or  Edoranchos,  the  seventh  primeval  king  of 
the  Babylonian  legend,  was  called  to  intercourse  with  the  sun 
god,  and  taught  by  him  concerning  many  secrets  of  heaven 
and  earth.  Enoch,  the  seventh  patriarch — counting  Adam — 
is  recorded  to  have  lived  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  years, 
after  the  number  of  the  days  of  the  solar  year.  "He  was 
not,  for  God  took  him."  By  the  Jews  of  the  later  times 
Enoch  was  regarded  as  the  father  and  founder  of  astrology, 
and  the  possessor  of  all  knowledge  of  the  secrets  of  heaven 
and  earth. 

The  flood  story  is  preceded  by  a  curious  bit  of  folklore 
which  tells  of  the  consorting  of  members  of  the  lower 
angelic  orders  with  the  daughters  of  men,  their  children  being 
the  nephilim  or  giants.  There  was  a  time  when  such  stories 
were  the  pith  and  marrow  of  popular  religion.  Contrast  the 
conception  of  God  and  man  behind  this  story  with  that 
suggested  by  words  like  these :  "For  thus  saith  the  high  and 
lofty  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity,  whose  name  is  Holy :  I 
dwell  in  the  high  and  holy  place,  with  him  also  that  is  of 
a  contrite  and  humble  spirit,  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the 
humble,  and  to  revive  the  heart  of  the  contrite"  (Isa.  57:  15). 
God  led  his  people  by  a  long  path  from  the  dank  valleys 
up  the  heights  which  rise  ever  higher,  until  at  last  men  stand 

"upon  the  shining  table-lands, 
To  which  our  God  himself  is  moon  and  sun." 

31 


[1-6]       RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

IV.  THE  FLOOD 

First  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

Read,  after  the  study  of  the  day,  Gen.  Chapters  6,  7,  8, 
noting  evidences  of  composite  authorship,  and  of  advance 
upon  the  Babylonish  story. 

And  Jehovah  said  unto  Noah,  Come  thou  and  all  thy 
house  into  the  ark;  for  thee  have  I  seen  righteous  be- 
fore me  in  this  generation.  Of  every  clean  beast  thou 
shalt  take  to  thee  seven  and  seven,  the  male  and  his 
female ;  and  of  the  beasts  that  are  not  clean  two,  the 
male  and  his  female :  of  the  birds  also  of  the  heavens, 
seven  and  seven,  male  and  female,  to  keep  seed  alive 
upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth.  For  yet  seven  days, 
and  I  will  cause  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth  forty  days  and 
forty  nights ;  and  every  living  thing  that  I  have  made 
will  I  destroy  from  off  the  face  of  the  ground.  And 
Noah  did  according  unto  all  that  Jehovah  commanded 
him.  ,  .  .  And  the  flood  was  forty  days  upon  the  earth ; 
and  the  waters  increased,  and  bare  up  the  ark,  and  it 
was  lifted  up  above  the  earth.  And  the  waters  pre- 
vailed, and  increased  greatly  upon  the  earth ;  and  the 
ark  went  upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  And  the  waters 
prevailed  exceedingly  upon  the  earth ;  and  all  the  high 
mountains  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven  were 
covered.  .  .  . 

And  God  remembered  Noah,  and  all  the  beasts,  and 
all  the  cattle  that  were  with  him  in  the  ark:  and  God 
made  a  wind  to  pass  over  the  earth,  and  the  waters 
assuaged ;  the  fountains  also  of  the  deep  and  the  win- 
dows of  heaven  were  stopped,  and  the  rain  from  heaven 
was  restrained ;  and  the  waters  returned  from  off  the 
earth  continually :  and  after  the  end  of  a  hundred  and 
fifty  days  the  waters  decreased.  And  the  ark  rested  in 
the  seventh  month,  on  the  seventeenth  day  of  the 
month,  upon  the  mountains  of  Ararat. — Gen.  7 :  1-5, 
17-19;  8:  1-4. 

The  story  of  the  Deluge  is  of  the  utmost  interest  to  the 
student  of  religion.  And  to  the  religious  man,  it  still  makes 
its  appeal,  as  revealing  certain  inspired  convictions  of 

"that  grand  Credo  which  in  prophet-hearts  hath  burned 
Since   the   first   man   stood   God-conquered   with   his    face   to 
heaven  upturned." 

32 


OLD  STORIES  OF  THE  ELDER  WORLD      [1-6] 

We  no  longer  think  of  a  God  who  uses  a  phenomenon  of 
the  physical  world  as  a  club  wielded  directly  to  punish  sin- 
ners. We  have  learned  from  Jesus  to  think  of  a  Father, 
whose  sun  shines  upon  the  evil  and  the  good,  who  makes 
his  rain  to  fall  upon  the  just  and  the  unjust.  From  science 
we  have  learned  to  talk  glibly  of  natural  law  and  second 
causes.  But  we  have  need  to  rehearse  the  teachings  of  the 
ancient  story : 

1.  The  universe  is  on  the  side  of  the  good  will. 

2.  Sin  means  punishment,  righteousness   salvation. 

3.  Between  God  and  his  friends,  there  is  a  permanent  and 
blessed  relationship.  In  the  story  we  have  this  relationship 
sealed  by  a  covenant.  The  idea  of  the  covenant  is  one  of 
the  most  fruitful  religious  conceptions.  We  read  that  the 
Greek  Iris,  goddess  of  the  rainbow,  is  the  sister  of  the 
harpies,  and  Iris  descends  upon  the  rainbow  to  the  earth,  to 
inspire  men  with  madness.  The  Hebrew  word  for  rainbow 
is  the  word  originally  used  of  the  bow  of  the  warrior.  But 
the  Hebrew  seer  does  not  think  of  the  rainbow  as  the  bridge 
of  Iris,  or  as  the  bow  of  a  warrior,  god  or  giant,  but  rather 
as  the  precious  token  of  the  covenant  or  bargain  made  be- 
tween the  righteous  God  and  his  now  responsive  people. 

4.  God  is  eternally  willing  to  give  humanity  a  new  start. 
The  collapse  of  the  old  has  never  meant  the  collapse  of  the 
whole.  Unless  all  history  and  religion  deceive  us,  out  of 
the  ruin  and  wretchedness  of  universal  war  itself  shall  rise 
a  new  life,  richer  because  more  righteous. 

In  Noah  we  have  one  of  the  finest  pictures  of  the  man 
of  faith  to  be  found  in  the  world's  gallery.  At  God's  word, 
the  best  word  he  knew,  "by  faith  Noah,  being  warned  of 
God  concerning  things  not  seen  as  yet,  moved  with  godly 
fear,  prepared  an  ark  to  the  saving  of  his  house"  (Heb.  11: 
7).  Many  a  man,  with  the  thought  of  the  storied  navigator 
in  his  mind,  has  fashioned  out  of  the  common  things  of  life 
—the  pitch  and  the  gopher  wood— the  ark  which  has  ridden 
safe  upon  the  very  waters  which  have  submerged  the  moun- 
tains, all  of  the  accustomed  defenses  and  bulwarks  of  men. 

33 


[1-6]       RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

It  is  a  pity  that  the  Deluge  narrative  has  been  so  frequently 
submerged  beneath  a  modern  flood  of  child  toys,  pictures, 
rhymes,  and  ideas,  that  we  lose  its  profound  suggestiveness. 
It  is  impossible  to  trace  the  flood  story  to  its  earthly  source. 
We  read  that  similar  stories  are  told  among  all  races  of 
men,  except  the  black  race.  The  nearest  ancestor  of  our 
narrative  appears  to  be  the  Gilgamesh  epic  of  Babylon.  Ac- 
cording to  this  poem,  the  hero  builds  his  ark,  brings  his 
family  and  treasure  into  it. 

"All  which  I  possessed  I  loaded  on  it, 
All  the  silver  I  had  I  loaded  on  it. 
All  the  gold  I  had  I  loaded  on  it. 
All  the  living  creatures  of  all  kinds  I  loaded  on  it." 

When  the  rain  abates,  the  hero  sends  forth  a  dove  which 
finds  no  resting-place  and  returns.  He  sends  forth  a  swal- 
low, which  finds  no  resting-place  and  returns. 

"Then  I  sent  forth  a  raven  and  let  it  loose. 
The  raven  went   forth,   and   saw   that  the   waters   had   de- 
creased ;  it  fed,  it  waded,  it  croaked,  but  did  not  return." 

After  landing  upon  the  mountain  Nisir,  the  hero  offers  a 
mighty  sacrifice  to  the  gods, 

"The  gods  inhaled  the  odor, 
The  gods  inhaled  the  sweet  odor. 
The  gods  gathered  like  flies  above  the  sacrifice."* 

The  relationship  between  the  two  stories  is  indubitable,  but 
the  differences  are  wonderful.  In  the  more  ancient  narrative 
we  have  again  gross  polytheism,  the  conflict  of  non-moral 
deities,  whose  foolish  anger  causes  the  flood,  whose  favorit- 
ism saves  the  hero  and  his  family.  The  Scripture  narrative 
enriched  every  Hebrew  who  found  it  a  part  of  his  inheritance 
from  the  long  past. 

In  Gen.  9:20-27  we  have  the  story  of  Noah's  drunkenness, 
and  the  curse  of  Canaan.  Some  men,  with  a  blind  ferocity, 
which  would  be  humorous  if  it  were  not  so  baneful,  suppose 

4  S.O.T.  Vol.  I,  p.  373ff.  Cf.  Morris  Jastrow,  "Hebrew  and  Babylonian 
Traditions,"  p.  32 iff,  ; 

34 


OLD  STORIES  OF  THE  ELDER  WORLD      [I-7] 

this  curse  still  to  be  resting  upon  the  "children  of  Ham." 
Here  Noah  is  not  the  ark-builder,  the  man  of  faith.  He 
is  rather  the  vintner,  who  partakes  too  lavishly  of  the  fruit 
of  his  own  vineyard.  The  beginnings  of  viniculture  and  of 
the  varied  uses  of  the  grape  must  have  greatly  interested 
the  Hebrew  invaders  of  Palestine.  Who,  then,  was  the  an- 
cestor of  vine-dressers?  Another  question  sought  answer: 
Why  are  the  Canaanites,  though  much  older  inhabitants  of 
the  land,  justly  driven  out  or  subdued?  While  the  story  of 
Noah  the  drunkard  comes  from  another  source  than  the  flood 
story,  it  would  not  be  strange  to  read  both  stories  as  inci- 
dents in  the  narrative  of  one  man's  life.  The  man  with  the 
long  audacity  of  faith  becomes  a  saviour,  receives  the  tokens 
of  the  favor  of  his  God,  and  then,  the  days  of  stress  and 
strain  past,  he  becomes  a  sensualist,  his  latter  days  casting 
their  cloud  upon  the  splendor  of  his  earlier  career. 

V.  BABEL 

First  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

And  the  whole  earth  was  of  one  language  and  of 
one  speech.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they  journeyed 
east,  that  they  found  a  plain  in  the  land  of  Shinar ;  and 
they  dwelt  there.  And  they  said  one  to  another,  Come, 
let  us  make  brick,  and  burn  them  thoroughly.  And  they 
had  brick  for  stone,  and  slime  had  they  for  mortar. 
And  they  said,  Come,  let  us  build  us  a  city,  and  a 
tower,  whose  top  may  reach  unto  heaven,  and  let  us 
make  us  a  name ;  lest  we  be  scattered  abroad  upon  the 
face  of  the  whole  earth.  And  Jehovah  came  down  to 
see  the  city  and  the  tower,  which  the  children  of  men 
builded.  And  Jehovah  said,  Behold,  they  are  one  peo- 
ple, and  they  have  all  one  language ;  and  this  is  what 
they  begin  to  do  :  and  now  nothing  will  be  withholden 
from  them,  which  they  purpose  to  do.  Come,  let  us 
go  down,  and  there  confound  their  language,  that  they 
may  not  understand  one  another's  speech.  So  Jehovah 
scattered  them  abroad  from  thence  upon  the  face  of 
all  the  earth  :  and  they  left  off  building  the  city.  There- 
fore was  the  name  of  it  called  Babel;  because  Jehovah 

35 


1-7]       RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

did  there  confound  the  language  of  all  the  earth :  and 
from  thence  did  Jehovah  scatter  them  abroad  upon  the 
face  of  all  the  earth. — Gen.  ii:  i-o. 


One  of  the  hardest  lessons  for  men  to  learn  is  this :  that 
it  is  by  each  new  obeisance  in  spirit  that  we  climb  to  God's 
feet.  Jesus  was  wont  to  promise  exaltation  to  the  humble. 
He  "opened  his  mouth  and  taught"  the  multitudes,  and  said, 
first  of  all,  "Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit :  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven"  (Matt.  5:3).  At  the  very  close  of  his 
ministry,  he  pleaded  once  more  with  his  disciples,  so  slow 
to  learn  the  royalty  of  humility.  "Jesus,  knowing  that  the 
Father  had  given  all  things  into  his  hands,  and  that  he 
came  forth  from  God,  and  goeth  unto  God,  riseth  from  sup- 
per .  .  .  and  he  took  a  towel,  and  girded  himself.  Then  he 
poureth  water  into  the  basin,  and  began  to  wash  the  disci- 
ples' feet"   (John  13:3-5)- 

From  the  earliest  days,  the  speakers  for  God  among  the 
Hebrews  summoned  them  to  humility.  They  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity of  attacking  the  arrogance  which  "seeks  to  make  it- 
self a  name" ;  the  "autotheism,"  or  self-deification,  which 
does  not  hesitate  to  scale  heaven. 

But  while  the  compilers  of  the  ancient  documents  of  Israel 
had  a  primary  religious  interest,  the  story  of  Babel  was 
anciently  the  answer  to  certain  childish  questions  of  the  peo- 
ple. Apparently  they  asked :  "What  is  the  meaning  of  that 
great  ruin  on  the  plain  of  Babylon?"  We  read  that  the 
tower  the  people  had  in  mind  "was  a  characteristic  feature 
of  the  sacred  architecture  in  the  Euphrates  Valley,  the  staged 
construction  with  broad  terraces  heaped  one  above  the  other, 
in  imitation  of  a  mountain,  with  a  winding  road  leading  to 
the  top,  where  the  deity  to  whom  the  tower  was  dedicated 
had  his  seat." 

Again  they  asked :  "How  shall  we  account  for  the  strange 
diversities  of  language  in  the  world?"  Content  with  a  child- 
ish etymology,  which  derived  Bab-el  (the  gate  of  God)  from 
balal   (to  confuse),  the  questioners  got  the  answers  to  their 

Z6 


OLD  STORIES  OF  THE  ELDER  WORLD      [I-7] 

two  questions:  The  lofty  tower  of  Babylon  was  the  work 
of  heaven-daring  rebels,  who  sought  to  scale  the  sky,  "and 
make  themselves  a  name."  But  God  there  wrought  the  "con- 
fusion" of  their  language,  that  they  should  not  understand 
one  -another's  speech.  The  story  is  not  "perfectly  disengaged 
from  polytheism,"  and  still  bears  traces  of  that  curious  early 
conception  of  a  deity  fearful  lest  man  should  usurp  the 
divine  prerogative  (v.  6).  As  through  a  thick  cloud  God 
made  himself  known  to  the  early  narrators  of  sacred  story, 
who  conceived  diversity  of  language  to  be  God's  punishment 
for  sin.  The  "thickness"  is  worn  "thin"  to  the  Revelator, 
who  writes: 

"After  these  things  I  saw,  and  behold,  a  great  multitude, 
which  no  man  could  number,  out  of  every  nation,  and  of  all 
tribes  and  peoples  and  tongues,  standing  before  the  throne 
and  before  the  Lamb,  arrayed  in  white  robes,  and  palms  in 
their  hands"   (Rev.  7:9). 

Concluding  Note  on  Genesis,  Chapters  i  to  ii. 

The  chapters  thus  far  studied  give  us  glimpses  of  the  path 
by  which  the  pioneers  of  the  Hebrew  religion  sought  to  gain 
for  themselves  and  their  friends  the  Mount  of  Vision.  For 
them  the  path  was  often  overgrown  with  thorns  and  thistles ; 
but  God's  kindly  light  never  failed,  God's  hand  pushed  aside 
the  thicket,  so  that  the  "one  step"  needful  might  be  made. 
One  man  got  sight  of  the  divine  truth  suggested  by  the 
word,  "In  the  beginning  God."  Allured  by  that  truth,  he 
himself  led  his  successors.  Again  there  came  to  a  certain 
traveler  the  conception  that  God  made  man  in  his  own  image. 
Led  by  him  and  his  thought,  subsequent  generations  dared 
to  try  to  rise  toward  God's  character.  Again  there  was  re- 
vealed to  some  of  the  early  pilgrims  of  the  path  the  truth 
that  sin  is  suicide,  righteousness  is  salvation ;  and  through  the 
stories  of  Paradise  Lost,  of  Cain  and  Abel,  of  the  Flood  and 
of  Babel,  they  told  and  retold  that  truth,  and  led  their 
primitive  childish  people  up  the  long  ascent. 

V 


[I-q]        RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  Of  what  value  would  the  story  of  Creation  be  to  the 
religious  Hebrew? 

2.  What  would  be  the  probable  effect  of  the  stories  of  the 
Fall  and  the  Deluge  upon,  the  religious  thinking  of  the 
Hebrews  ? 

3.  How  does  the  story  of  the  Fall  illustrate  the  entrance 
of  sin  into  life,  its  operation  in  life,  and  its  issues? 

4.  What  part  does  diversity  of  language  play  in  foster- 
ing or  hindering  the  progress  of  the  Kingdom  of  God? 

5.  What  is  the  probable  explanation  of  the  diversity  of 
language  ? 

6.  If  your  "Bible"  were  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis, 
what  would  you  be  led  to  believe  regarding  God,  and  re- 
garding your  duty  toward  God  and  toward  man? 

7.  Try  the  experiment  of  telling  the  story  of  the  Fall  as 
to  a  group  of  children  of  the  primary  grade,  and  then  as 
to  a  group  of  high  school  boys. 


38 


CHAPTER  ir 

Early  Heroes  of  the  Hebrew  Race 
and  Faith 

The  Patriarchs :  Their  Lives  and  Experiences 
with  God 

Introductory 

In  Babylon,  the  great  king  Hammurabi  had  codified  the 
laws  of  a  benevolent  monarchy,  laws  which  should  make  their 
way  throughout  the  Semitic  world  (see  p.  103).  He  had  dug 
a  canal,  which  provided  "lasting  water  for  the  land  of  Sumer 
and  Accad."  He  had  erected  "a  great  granary  for  the  storing 
of  wheat  against  times  of  famine."  He  had  created  an  em- 
pire of  culture  and  reasonable  justice  which  should  make 
his  reign  one  to  which  the  later  centuries  would  look  back 
as  the  Golden  Age.  Still  in  Babylonia  priests  were  studying 
the  constellations  of  the  heavens,  and  the  markings  on  the 
livers  of  sacrificial  sheep,  to  determine  the  plans  of  the  gods 
for  the  future  of  the  individual  and  the  empire.  Meanwhile 
little  Babylonian  boys  were  studying  in  their  schoolhouses, 
one  of  which  has  been  uncovered  to  reveal  to  us  "the  clay 
tablet  exercises  still  lying  on  the  floor." 

In  Egypt,  the  pyramid  builders  had  left  to  future  millenniums 
their  wondrous  tombs ;  the  feudal  barons  had  followed  them. 
In  their  period  the  Egyptians  dug  an  earlier  "Suez"  Canal, 
and  made  progress  in  literature  and  in  the  "higher  realm  of 
conduct  and  character."  The  writers  of  the  Feudal  Age  have 
left  to  us  "poems,  stories,  and  records  of  just  and  generous 

39 


[II-i]      RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

dealings  with  the  poor."  ^  And  now  in  the  same  general  epoch 
we  may  discover  the  beginnings  of  a  third  people,  smaller, 
yet  greater  than  either  Babylonian  or  Egyptian ;  a  people 
who  through  the  centuries  were  to  suffer  unspeakably  from 
the  empires  rising  in  the  East  and  the  South,  but  were  to 
wield  a  surpassing  influence  upon  the  world's  life. 

The  story  of  the  Hebrews  begins  in  "the  land  between  the 
rivers";  and  our  present  chapter  begins  there,  in  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,  with  the  pilgrimage  of  Abraham,  and  closes  with 
the  story  of  Joseph,  prime-minister  of  Egypt. 

I.    THE  ABRAHAM  CYCLE 

Passages  from  Gen.  12:  i  to  25:  18 
Second  Week,  First  Day. 

I.  The  Pilgrimage  of  Faith 

Read  Gen.  12:  1-9,  the  record  of  a  journey  shared  in  thought 
by  every  Hebrew  to  this  day. 

As  we  pass  from  the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis,  we 
leave  the  "morning  stories."^ 

We  begin  now  to  see  the  separation  of  one  people  from 
other  peoples,  a  race  whose  task  it  should  be  to  bear  to  the 
world  the  world's  supreme  religion. 

We  study  first  certain  episodes  in  the  story  of  the  heroic 
founder  of  the  race,  who  stands  before  the  world  as  the 
Man  of  Faith. 

Now  Jehovah  said  unto  Abram,  Get  thee  out  of  thy 
country,  and  from  thy  kindred,  and  from  thy  father's 
house,  unto  the  land  that  I  will  show  thee :  and  I  will 


1  See  a  fascinating  book,  prepared  for  high  school  pupils  by  J.  H.  Breasted, 
"Ancient  Times,"  pp.  75,  135R. 

2  Some  scholars  would  drive  Abraham  the  man  frorn  the  field  of  history, 
and  would  regard  him  as  the  legendary  founder,  or  possibly  as  the  personifica- 
tion, of  the  Hebrew  race.  Their  conjecture  is  of  more  interest  than  importance. 
We  assume  the  historic  character  of  the  man,  while  granting  that  stories 
gathered  about  his  personality,  of  which  some  are  true  to  truth  rather  than 
to  history.  Scholars  find  in  the  narrative  evidences  of  the  use  by  the  com- 
piler of  several  of  the  documents  which  we  have  already  noted  (p.  7). 

40 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [II-i] 

make  of  thee  a  great  nation,  and  I  will  bless  thee,  and 
make  thy  name  great ;  and  be  thou  a  blessing :  and  I 
will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and  him  that  curseth 
thee  will  I  curse:  and  in  thee  shall  all  the  families  of 
the  earth  be  blessed.  So  Abram  went,  as  Jehovah 
had  spoken  unto  him. — Gen.  12:1-4. 

The  writer  finds  our  hero  in  his  home,  Ur  of  the  Chaldees, 
a  city  sacred  to  the  worship  of  the  moon-god.  He  thinks 
of  Jehovah  as  bidding  him  start  upon  a  great  adventure  into 
the  unknown,  yet  piling  up  before  him  difficulty  upon  diffi- 
culty :  "Get  thee  out  of  thy  country,  and  from  thy  kindred, 
and  from  thy  father's  house." 

Abram  appears  to  have  been  the  leader  of  a  nomadic 
movement  from  Mesopotamia.  Perhaps  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  the  world  a  migration  occurred  in  conscious 
obedience  to  an  invisible  righteous  deity.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence that  Abram  was  impelled  by  economic  allurement,  or 
compelled  by  economic  pressure.  The  impulsion  and  com- 
pulsion were  religious.  "So  Abram  went,  as  Jehovah  had 
spoken  unto  him." 

Perhaps  the  closest  modern  parallel  to  this  ancient  journey 
is  that  of  our  own  Pilgrim  Fathers.  Professor  Fiske  says : 
"Of  all  the  migrations  of  nations,  that  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
was  least  influenced  by  the  almighty  dollar."  We  read  of 
their  departure  from  Leyden : 

"They  left  that  goodly  and  pleasant  city,  which  had  been 
their  resting-place  for  near  twelve  years,  but  they  knew  that 
they  were  pilgrims,  and  looked  not  upon  those  things,  but 
lifted  up  their  eyes  to  heaven,  their  dearest  country,  and 
quieted  their  spirits." 

They  reminded  the  merchant  adventurers  that 

"they  had  scarce  any  butter,  not  a  sole  to  mend  a  shoe,  that 
they  had  not  sufficient  swords,  muskets  or  arms,  yet  they 
were  willing  to  expose  themselves  to  such  dangers  and  trust 
God's  good  providence." 

We  Americans  may  well  share  the  fine  enthusiasm  of  the 
writer  to  the  Hebrews,  who,  speaking  of  the  ancient  pilgrim- 

41 


[11-2]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE    OF   ISRAEL 

age,  writes  :  "By  faith  Abraham,  when  he  was  called,  obeyed 
to  go  out  unto  a  place  which  he  was  to  receive  for  an  inherit- 
ance; and  he  went  out,  not  knowing  whither  he  went"  (Heb. 
ii:8). 

Second  Week,  Second  Day, 

2.  The  Generosity  of  Faith 
Read  Gen.   13. 

And  the  land  was  not  able  to  bear  them,  that  they 
might  dwell  together :  for  their  substance  was  great, 
so  that  they  could  not  dwell  together.  And  there  was 
a  strife  between  the  herdsmen  of  Abram's  cattle  and 
the  herdsmen  of  Lot's  cattle:  and  the  Canaanite  and 
the  Perizzite  dwelt  then  in  the  land.  And  Abram 
said  unto  Lot,  Let  there  be  no  strife,  I  pray  thee, 
between  me  and  thee,  and  between  my  herdsmen  and 
thy  herdsmen  ;  for  we  are  brethren.  Is  not  the  whole 
land  before  thee?  separate  thyself,  I  pray  thee,  from 
me:  if  thou  wilt  take  the  left  hand,  then  I  will  go  to 
the  right ;  or  if  thou  take  the  right  hand,  then  I  will 
go  to  the  left.  And  Lot  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  beheld 
all  the  Plain  of  the  Jordan,  that  it  was  well  watered 
every  where,  before  Jehovah  destroyed  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah,  like  the  garden  of  Jehovah,  like  the  land 
of  Egypt,  as  thou  goest  unto  Zoar.  So  Lot  chose  him 
all  the  Plain  of  the  Jordan;  and  Lot  journeyed  east: 
and  they  separated  themselves  the  one  from  the  other. — 
Gen.  13:  6-1 1. 

Possibly  the  writer  is  interested  in  this  story  of  ancient 
magnanimity  and  meanness,  because  it  seeks  to  explain  why 
Ammon  and  Moab,  tribes  descended  presumably  from  Lot, 
had  no  share  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  Choosing  the  plain  of 
Jordan,  Lot  resigned  for  himself  and  his  descendants  any 
claim  to  the  land  of  promise.  But  the  story  carries  a  far 
more  important  interest.  Manufactures  prosper  where  great 
populations  can  concentrate ;  the  nomadic  life  requires  wide 
elbow-room.  Abram,  leader  of  the  clan,  offers  his  nephew 
and  dependant  his  choice  of  land.  Lot  moves  his  tent  and 
his    family  toward   Sodom  and   ruin,   makes   the   worldling's 

42 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [II-3] 

choice.  Suppose  we  question  Lot  as  to  the  reason  for  his 
choice:  "Is  there  a  good  chance  down  there  to  educate  your 
family?  Are  there  large  religious  opportunities?  Is  the 
place  free  from  demoralizing  influences  ?  Or  perhaps  you 
are  looking  for  a  good  chance  to  exert  a  fine  moral  influence? 
Have  you  considered  that  possibly  gratitude  to  Abram  would 
dictate  your  giving  him  first  choice?"  And  Lot  answers, 
perchance  rather  shamefacedly,  "Well,  to  tell  the  truth,  I 
want  that  land,  well  watered  everywhere  like  the  garden  of 
Jehovah."  Vividly  the  author  pictures  the  results  of  the 
worldly  choice,  as  contrasted  with  the  choice  of  love.  Lot 
chooses  a  good  grazing  ground,  and  that  fundamental  choice, 
dictated  by  pure  selfishness,  dictates  all  subsequent  choices. 
We  see  him  first  a  stranger  in  Sodom,  then  an  elder  of  the 
city,  with  his  seat  by  the  gate.  Scarcely  can  an  angel's  hand 
tear  him  from  the  city  to  which  custom  and  interest  and 
"honors"  have  bound  him.  The  death  of  his  wife,  the  ruin 
of  his  children,  all  date,  according  to  the  story,  from  that 
first  worldly  choice. 

Lot  the  worldling  is  typical  of  a  certain  Vement  of  the 
Hebrew  race,  which  was  to  be  unsparingly  condemned  by 
the  prophets,  an  element  which  has  been  known  throughout 
the  years  and  throughout  the  world,  whether  in  Sodom  or 
Singapore  or  San  Francisco.  On  the  other  hand,  there  have 
always  been  found  among  the  Hebrews  multitudes  of  Abra- 
ham's spiritual  descendants,  men  whose  faith  gives  them  at 
this  day  a  generosity  which  shares  the  last  crust  with  a  brother 
Jew,  a  generosity  almost  unknown  among  us  smug  and  self- 
conceited  Gentiles.  The  magnanimity  of  faith  has  never 
departed  from  Israel. 

Second  Week,  Third  Day. 

3.  The  Knighthood  of  Faith 
Read  Gen.  14. 
A    friend   writing   from  Jericho,   at  the  beginning  of   the 
43 


[II-3]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Great  War,  predicted  the  day  when  there  would  be  superb 
golf  courses  down  by  Jericho ! 

"The  mountains  of  Jericho  and  the  mountains  of  Moab, 
with  Bedouin  caddies  will  be  a  very  picturesque  setting  for 
the  game.  Jericho's  'tell'  will  make  an  excellent  series  of 
bunkers.  If  the  ball  gets  into  the  slime  pits,  though,  where 
the  ancient  kings  came  to  grief,  the  game  will  be  unfinished. 
We  got  stuck  in  them  ourselves  in  the  dark,  as  we  drove 
from  the  Dead  Sea  back  to  Jerusalem.  That  was  also  a 
picturesque  experience." 

And  there  went  out  the  king  of  Sodom,  and  the  king 
of  Gomorrah,  and  the  king  of  Admah,  and  the  king  of 
Zeboiim,  and  the  king  of  Bela  (the  same  is  Zoar)  ; 
and  they  set  the  battle  in  array  against  them  in  the  vale 
of  Siddim ;  against  Chedorlaomer  king  of  Elam,  and 
Tidal  king  of  Goiim,  and  Amraphel  king  of  Shinar, 
and  Arioch  king  of  Ellasar ;  four  kings  against  the  five. 
Now  the  vale  of  Siddim  was  full  of  slime  pits;  and  the 
kings  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  fled,  and  they  fell  there, 
and  they  that  remained  fled  to  the  mountain.  And  they 
took  all  the  goods  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and 
all  their  victuals,  and  went  their  way.  And  they  took 
Lot,  Abram's  brother's  son,  who  dwelt  in  Sodom,  and 
his  goods,  and  departed. 

And  there  came  one  that  had  escaped,  and  told  Abram 
the  Hebrew :  now  he  dwelt  by  the  oaks  of  Mamre,  the 
Amorite,  brother  of  Eshcol,  and  brother  of  Aner ;  and 
these  were  confederate  with  Abram.  And  when  Abram 
heard  that  his  brother  was  taken  captive,  he  led  forth 
his  trained  men,  born  in  his  house,  three  hundred  and 
eighteen,  and  pursued  as  far  as  Dan.  And  he  divided 
himself  against  them  by  night,  he  and  his  servants,  and 
smote  them,  and  pursued  them  unto  Hobah,  which  is 
on  the  left  hand  of  Damascus.  And  he  brought  back 
all  the  goods,  and  also  brought  back  his  brother  Lot, 
and  his  goods,  and  the  women  also,  and  the  people. 

And  the  king  of  Sodom  went  out  to  meet  him,  after 
his  return  from  the  slaughter  of  Chedorlaomer  and 
the  kings  that  were  with  him,  at  the  vale  of  Shaveh 
(the  same  is  the  King's  Vale).  And  Melchizedek  king 
of  Salem  brought  forth  bread  and  wine :  and  he  was 
priest  of  God  Most  High.  And  he  blessed  him,  and 
said.  Blessed  be  Abram  of  God  Most  High,  possessor 
of  heaven  and  earth :  and  blessed  be  God  Most  High, 

44 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [II-3] 

who  hath  delivered  thine  enemies  into  thy  hand.  And 
he  gave  him  a  tenth  of  all.  And  the  king  of  Sodom 
said  unto  Abram,  Give  me  the  persons,  and  take  the 
goods  to  thyself.  And  Abram  said  to  the  king  of 
Sodom,  I  have  lifted  up  my  hand  unto  Jehovah,  God 
Most  High,  possessor  of  heaven  and  earth,  that  I  will 
not  take  a  thread  nor  a  shoe-latchet  nor  aught  that  is 
thine,  lest  thou  shouldest  say,  I  have  made  Abram  rich. 
—Gen.  14:8-23. 

Attempts  have  been  made,  not  with  assured  success,  to 
identify  the  four  warrior  kings  from  the  East  with  royalties 
v/hose  names  are  carved  on  the  monuments. 

One  of  the  most  fascinating  features  of  the  narrative  is 
the  appearance  of  Melchizedek.  In  1888  A.  D.  there  were 
discovered  in  Tel  el  Amarna,  Egypt,  some  three  hundred 
letters,  written  on  clay  tablets,  in  the  Babylonian  cuneiform 
script.  The  letters  proved  to  be  official  correspondence  be- 
tween the  Pharaohs  and  the  governors  of  Palestine.  Among 
these  tablets,  dating  1500-1400  B.  C,  is  a  letter  from  the 
king  of  Jerusalem  to  the  Egyptian  monarch,  in  which  the 
king  says  that  he  is  not  like  other  Egyptian  governors,  nor 
has  he  inherited  his  crown  from  his  father  and  mother,  but 
it  has  been  conferred  upon  him  by  the  King.^  Melchizedek 
(lit.  king  of  righteousness)  may  have  been  like  this  ancient 
correspondent  of  the  Pharaoh,  a  priest-king,  to  whom  there- 
fore it  was  natural  that  Abram,  after  the  manner  of  con- 
querors, should  make  an  ofifering.  In  the  narrative,  for  the 
first  time  "the  Holy  People  and  the  Holy  City  are  brought 
into  connection."  In  allegorical  yet  most  impressive  fashion, 
the  author  of  the  Hebrews  uses  the  record  (Heb.  5-7). 

This  14th  chapter  is  one  of  many  indications  that  we  are 
not  to  think  of  the  early  patriarchs  as  lonely  men  leading 
their  peaceful  life  of  faith  without  opposition.  "Formerly," 
says  a  writer,  "the  world  in  which  the  patriarchs  moved 
seemed  to  be  almost  empty ;  now  we  see  it  filled   with   em- 

3  "Now  as  for  me,  neither  my  father  nor  my  mother  appointed  me  to  this 
place.  The  strong  arm  of  the  king  brought  me  to  my  father's  house." — 
"Extra-BibUcal  Sources  for  Hebrew  and  Jewish  History,"  by  Samuel  A.  B. 
Mercer,  p.  13. 

45 


[II-4]      RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

bassies,  armies,  busy  cities,  and  long  lines  of  traders,  passing 
from  one  center  of  civilization  to  another."  The  pioneers 
of  faith  wrought  out  their  ideals  in  the  face  of  an  aggressive, 
arrogant  polytheism,  a  complex  and  powerful  commercial  and 
military  age. 

But  the  ancient  story  speaks  to  us  with  a  strange  present 
power  of  the  knighthood  of  faith.  How  easy  it  is  to  say  of 
an  ingrate,  when  in  trouble,  "The  man  has  made  his  bed: 
now  let  him  lie  in  it."  Abram  unhesitatingly  goes  to  the 
rescue  of  his  undeserving  nephew.*  Again,  Abram  refuses 
to  take  any  gift  from  the  king  of  Sodom,  for  he  will  owe 
all  he  has  to  his  God,  nor  will  he  spoil  his  witness  for  any 
amount  of  money.  Still  further,  the  knight  of  faith  gives 
himself  in  high  devotement  to  the  highest,  to  God  most  high. 

Second  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

4.  The  Pr.\yer  of  Faith 

Read  Gen.  18,  the  story  of  the  Promise  and  the  Prayer. 

And  the  men  turned  from  thence,  and  went  toward 
Sodom :  but  Abraham  stood  yet  before  Jehovah.  And 
Abraham  drew  near,  and  said.  Wilt  thou  consume  the 
righteous  with  the  wicked?  Peradventure  there  are 
fifty  righteous  within  the  city :  wilt  thou  consume  and 
not  spare  the  place  for  the  fifty  righteous  that  are 
therein?  That  be  far  from  thee  to  do  after  this  man- 
ner, to  slay  the  righteous  with  the  wicked,  that  so  the 
righteous  should  be  as"  the  wicked ;  that  be  far  from 
thee:  shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right? 
And  Jehovah  said.  If  I  find  in  Sodom  fifty  righteous 
within  the  city,  then  I  will  spare  all  the  place  for  their 
sake.  And  Abraham  answered  and  said.  Behold  now, 
I  have  taken  upon  me  to  speak  unto  the  Lord,  who  am 
but  dust  and  ashes :  peradventure  there  shall  lack  five 
of  the  fifty  righteous  :  wilt  thou  destroy  all  the  city  for 
lack  of  five?     And  he  said,  I  will  not  destrov  it,  if  I 


*  The  narrative  doubtless  idealizes  Abram  "as  one  who  fights  with  kings, 
is  blessed  by  a  king,  and  will  not  take  from  a  king  so  much  as  a  shoe-latchet." 
Three  hundred  and  eighteen  men  could  scarcely  have  been  a  deciding  factor 
in  defeating  the  kings  of  the  most  powerful  peoples  of  Asia. 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [II-4] 

find  there  forty  and  five.  .  .  .  And  he  said,  Oh  let  not 
the  Lord  be  angry,  and  I  will  speak  yet  but  this  once: 
peradventure  ten  shall  be  found  there.  And  he  said,  I 
will  not  destroy  it  for  the  ten's  sake.  And  Jehovah 
went  his  way,  as  soon  as  he  had  left  off  communing 
with  Abraham :  and  Abraham  returned  unto  his  place. 
—Gen.  18:22-28,  z^,  3Z' 

It  would  be  delightful  to  study  this  story  simply  as  a  reve- 
lation of  the  soul  of  the  ancient  East.  Mark  the  grace  with 
which  Abraham  and  his  wife  attend  to  the  wants  of  the 
strangers;  the  background  of  Oriental  hospitality  upon  which 
the  picture  is  painted.  But  as  students  of  religion,  and  reli- 
gious men,  we  find  a  special  interest  in  the  narrative  as  we 
study  the  character  of  the  deity  whom  Abraham  is  described 
as  worshiping. 

a.  Abraham's  God  requires  no  sacrifice  of  his  friend  be- 
fore his  friend  may  speak  with  him. 

b.  He  listens  patiently  to  the  pleading  of  his  friend. 

c.  He  is  more  merciful  than  his  friend  dreams.  Abraham 
insists  that  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  shall  do  right,  asks 
for  justice;  God  oflfers  not  justice  alone  but  mercy. 

d.  Again  Jehovah  recognizes  the  redemptive  worth  of  right- 
eousness. Ten  good  men — such  is  the  thought — could  have 
saved  Sodom^  from  destruction.  It  may  be  urged  that  the 
story  is  colored  by  the  thinking  of  a  far  later  time  than  that 
of  Abraham  himself,  but  it  is  certainly  very  ancient.  In  view 
of  the  persistent  worship  by  all  surrounding  peoples  of  bloody, 
vengeful,  non-moral,  immoral  gods,  the  chapter  offers  a 
singularly  lofty  conception  of  deity. 

As  through  the  years  the  story  was  told  and  told  again,  it 
must  have  done  much  to  shape  the  religious  thinking  of  the 
Hebrews, 


•  No  trace  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  has  been  discovered.  Some  have  claimed 
that  they  are  cities  known  only  to  folklore  as  having  been  destroyed  because 
of  their  breaches  of  the  moral  law.  More  probably  the  names  speak  of  pre- 
historic cities  overthrown  by  earthquake  and  eruptions  of  bituminous  matter. 
While  the  picture  of  God  in  our  story  is  comparatively  lofty,  it  is  not  the 
picture  given  us  by  Jesus.  Our  Father  does  not  use  the  elements  of  the  physical 
world  after  the  fashion  of  our  narrative  to  execute  punishment  upon  the  guilty. 

A7 


[II-5]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Second  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

5.  Failures  of  Faith 
Read  Gen.  12:  10-20.    See  Chapters  20,  16,  and  21. 

Very  frankly  the  Old  Testament  deals  with  the  failures 
of  God's  heroes.  Frequently  indeed  the  compiler  seems  to 
be  unconscious  of  the  failure  in  faith  or  morality.  Abraham 
deceives  the  king  of  Egypt  (Chap.  12).  Again  he  deceives 
the  king  of  Gerar  (Chap.  20,  perhaps  a  variation  of  the  earlier 
theme).  The  author  of  12  does  not  appear  to  feel  any  moral 
difficulty.  The  author  of  20  makes  an  effort  to  save  his 
hero's  reputation.  There  is  little  to  be  said  in  defense  of  a 
man  who  drives  into  the  wilderness  to  almost  certain  death 
the  woman  who  has  borne  him  a  son.  The  author  of  21 
seems  to  feel  the  necessity  of  explaining  the  act,  whose 
immorality  apparently  escapes  the  writer  of  the  story  in  16. 

Throughout  the  Old  Testament  there  is  no  forthright  con- 
demnation of  concubinage  or  of  polygamy;  but  we  shall  be 
able  to  mark  great  advances  in  ethical  ideals  as  we  proceed 
in   our   study. 

We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  man  who  thinks  of  Abraham's 
deceit  and  cruelty,  not  as  failures  of  faith,  but  rather  as 
failures  in  the  apprehension  of  God's  true  character.  But 
one  of  the  tragedies  of  our  personal  experience  is  our  easy 
defeat  by  little  foes.  The  man  who  is  ready  to  sacrifice  his 
son  to  his  God  is  scared  by  his  own  imaginings  of  what  a 
king  may  do.  The  man  who  will  volunteer  to  lead  a  forlorn 
hope  across  No  Man's  Land  falls  before  the  tittering  jibes 
of  a  couple  of  mates  in  his  dugout.  Browning  puts  into  the 
lips  of  the  aged  John  words  which  express  the  marvel  of  our 
failure : 

"Look  at  me  who  was  present  from  the  first! 
Ye  know  what  things  I  saw ;  then  came  a  test, 
My  first,  befitting  me  who  so  had  seen  : 
'Forsake  the  Christ  thou  sawest  transfigured.  Him 
Who  trod  the  sea  and  brought  the  dead  to  life? 
What  should  wring  this  from  thee !' — ye  laugh  and  ask. 

48 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [II-6] 

What  wrung  it?     Even  a  torchlight  and  a  noise, 

The  sudden  Roman  faces,  violent  hands, 

And  fear  of  what  the  Jews  might  do !     Just  that, 

And  it  is  written,  'I  forsook  and  fled'  : 

There  was  my  trial,  and  it  ended  thus." 

—"A  Death  in  the  Desert." 

There  are  thoughtless  men  who  say,  "Let  other  men  read 
the  Old  Testament  if  they  will ;  give  me  the  New  Testament." 
Very  well ;  let  such  men  turn  to  Paul's  discussion  of  the 
principles  of  Christian  freedom,  a  discussion  which  helped  to 
kindle  the  flame  of  the  Reformation  in  the  heart  of  Martin 
Luther,  and  let  them  try  to  explain  the  part  played  in  that 
discussion  by  the  pathetic  story  of  Hagar  and  her  outcast 
son   (Gal.  4:21-31). 

Second  Week,  Sixth  Day, 

6.  The  Triumph  of  Faith 

Read  Gen.  22. 

And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  God  did 
prove  Abraham,  and  said  unto  him,  Abraham ;  and  he 
said,  .Here  am  L  And  he  said,  Take  now  thy  son, 
thine  only  son,  whom  thou  lovest,  even  Isaac,  and  get 
thee  into  the  land  of  Moriah ;  and  offer  him  there  for 
a  burnt-offering  upon  one  of  the  mountains  which  I 
will  tell  thee  of.  And  Abraham  rose  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  saddled  his  ass,  and  took  two  of  his  young 
men  with  him,  and  Isaac  his  son;  and  he  clave  the 
wood  for  the  burnt-offering,  and  rose  up,  and  went 
unto  the  place  of  which  God  had  told  him.  On  the 
third  day  Abraham  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  saw  the 
place  afar  off.  And  Abraham  said  unto  his  young  men. 
Abide  ye  here  with  the  ass,  and  I  and  the  lad  will 
go  yonder ;  and  we  will  worship,  and  come  again  to  you. 
And  Abraham  took  the  wood  of  the  burnt-oft'ering,  and 
laid  it  upon  Isaac  his  son ;  and  he  took  in  "his  hand 
the  fire  and  the  knife;  and  they  went  both  of  them  to- 
gether. And  Isaac  spake  unto  Abraham  his  father, 
and  said.  My  father:  and  he  said,  Here  am  I.  my  son. 
And  he  said.  Behold,  the  fire  and  the  wood:  but  vv^here 
is  the  lamb  for  a  burnt-offering?     And  Abraham  said> 

49 


[1 1-6]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

God  will  provide  himself  the  lamb  for  a  burnt-offering, 
my  son  :  so  they  went  both  of  them  together. 

And  they  came  to  the  place  which  God  had  told  him 
of ;  and  Abraham  built  the  altar  there,  and  laid  the 
wood  in  order,  and  bound  Isaac  his  son,  and  laid  him 
on  the  altar,  upon  the  wood.  And  Abraham  stretched 
forth  his  hand,  and  took  the  knife  to  slay  his  son.  And 
the  angel  of  Jehovah  called  unto  him  out  of  heaven, 
and  said,  Abraham,  Abraham :  and  he  said,  Here  am 
I.  And  he  said.  Lay  not  thy  hand  upon  the  lad,  neither 
do  thou  anything  unto  him ;  for  now  I  know  that  thou 
fearest  God,  seeing  thou  hast  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine 
only  son,  from  me.  And  Abraham  lifted  up  his  eyes, 
and  looked,  and,  behold,  behind  him  a  ram  caught  in 
the  thicket  by  his  horns :  and  Abraham  went  and  took 
the  ram,  and  offered  him  up  for  a  burnt-offering  in 
the  stead  of  his  son.  And  Abraham  called  the  name  of 
that  place  Jehovah-jireh :  as  it  is  said  to  this  day,  In 
the  mount  of  Jehovah  it  shall  be  provided. — Gen.  22: 
1-14. 

The  excavations  of  Gezer  have  brought  to  light  jars  con- 
taining the  skeletons  of  little  children  sacrificed  in  ancient 
times  to  the  gods.  In  II  Kings  3:27  we  have  the  story  of 
the  king  of  Moab,  who  "took  his  eldest  son  that  should  have 
reigned  in  his  stead,  and  offered  him  for  a  burnt-offering 
upon  the  wall"  of  the  city.  The  singularly  pathetic  story  of 
Jephthah's  daughter  (Judges  11 :  30-40)  shows  that  the  custom 
of  human  sacrifice  was  not  unknown  in  Israel  in  the  time 
of  the  Judges.  Even  as  far  down  as  the  seventh  century, 
the  Hebrews  were  in  danger  of  yielding  to  the  ghastly 
heathen  custom.  Tennyson's  "The  Victim"  suggests  the  place 
of  human  sacrifice  in  times  of  crisis,  among  our  nearer  kin. 

Abraham  stands  out  from  among  the  surrounding  peoples 
as  a  devotee  of  the  invisible  righteous  God,  Jehovah.®  To 
him  the  most  precious  possession  in  the  world  is  his  son,  the 
heir  of  all  his  hopes.  His  best  thought,  inspired  as  he  be- 
lieves by  his   God,  makes   this  suggestion :   "Shall  not   I   do 


"  The  story  of  Abraham's  sacrifice  has  been  thought  by  some  to  be  an  eflfort 
to  explain  why  the  Israehtes  were  forbidden  human  sacrifice,  and  to  warn 
against  relapse  into  the  hideous  custom. 

50 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [II-7] 

for  my  God,  my  just  and  loving  God,  as  much  as  the  Ca- 
naanites  are  willing  to  do  for  their  corrupt  and  corrupting 
deities?" 

The  portraiture  of  the  narrative  is  superb.  The  soul  strug- 
gle is  not  discussed.  Rather,  we  see  the  man  of  faith  starting 
upon  his  journey  with  his  son  and  his  two  servants,  to  the 
Mount  of  God.  The  servants  are  left  behind,  father  and  son 
go  on.  "So  they  went,  both  of  them  together."  "My  father, 
where  is  the  lamb  for  a  burnt-offering?"  "God  will  provide 
himself  the  lamb  for  a  burnt-offering,  my  son."  All  the 
struggle  of  the  soul  is  in  those  words. 

To  later  Israel,  the  story  brought  this  lesson:  "Even  when 
your  heart  demands  that  you  make  to  Jehovah  the  supreme 
sacrifice,  he  will  seek  from  your  hands  another  gift  than  the 
child  sacrifice  of  the  heathen." 

But — and  this  is  the  glory  of  the  story — the  God  of  Israel 
withholds  nothing  from  the  man  who  withholds  nothing  from 
him.  On  the  Mount  of  Sacrifice  the  Lord  provides.  Perfect 
self-surrender  to  the  All-Perfect  is  perfect  self-realisation. 

Second  Week,  Seventh  Day, 

7.  The  Reward  of  Faith 
Read  Gen.  17,  21 :  1-8. 

As  for  me,  behold,  my  covenant  is  with  thee,  and 
thou  shalt  be  the  father  of  a  multitude  of  nations.  Nei- 
ther shall  thy  name  any  more  be  called  Abram,  but  thy 
name  shall  be  Abraham;  for  the  father  of  a  multitude 
of  nations  have  I  made  thee.  And  I  will  make  thee 
exceeding  fruitful,  and  I  will  make  nations  of  thee, 
and  kings  shall  come  out  of  thee.  And  I  will  establish 
my  covenant  between  me  and  thee  and  thy  seed  after 
thee  throughout  their  generations  for  an  everlasting 
covenant,  to  be  a  God  unto  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after 
thee.  And  I  will  give  unto  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after 
thee,  the  land  of  thy  sojournings,  all  the  land  of  Canaan, 
for  an  everlasting  possession ;  and  I  will  be  their  God. 

And  God  said  unto  Abraham,  And  as  for  thee,  thou 
shalt  keep  my  covenant,  thou,  and  thy  seed  after  thee 

51 


11-71     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

throughout  their  generations.  This  is  my  covenant, 
which  vc  shall  keep,  between  me  and  you  and  thy  seed 
after  thee:  every  male  amon-^  you  shall  be  circumcised. 
—Gen.  17:4-10. 


The  narrative  suggests  as  the  most  important  reward  of 
Abraham's  faith  a  covenant,  by  which  Jehovah  agrees  to 
make  of  his  friend  a  great  nation.  The  covenant,  according 
to  the  record,  is  sealed  by  circumcision.  The  rite  of  circum- 
cision is  observed  today  among  many  peoples,  and  is  said  to 
have-  been  known  among  the  Egyptians  as  early  as  3998  B.  C. 

In  Exodus  4 :  24ff.  there  is  a  curious  story,  very  ancient, 
which  suggests  that  Jehovah  was  angry  with  Moses  and  that 
the  wife  of  Moses  appeased  the  divine  wrath  by  circumcising 
her  son.  Among  the  Hebrews  the  rite  seems  to  have  been  in 
the  nature  of  a  tribal  mark,  and  to  have  held  a  special  reli- 
gious meaning.  It  was  thought  of  as  a  sacrifice,  and  indicated 
the  dedication  or  surrender  of  the  person  to  his  God.  The 
rite,  with  its  ancient  associations,  had  tremendous  influence 
upon  the  Hebrews.  The  later  prophets  urged  the  circum- 
cision of  the  heart  and  ears  rather  than  of  the  flesh;  but  the 
legalists  made  much  of  the  rite.  Recall  the  fact  that  in  Paul's 
day  the  Judaizing  Christians  believed  that  no  man  could  be 
a  Christian,  and  become  an  heir  of  the  promises  to  Abraham, 
until  he  had  received  the  external  rite  of  circumcision. 

The  story  of  Abraham  practically  ends  with  his  purchase  of 
a  tomb  for  his  wife.  The  writer  is  immensely  interested  in 
the  old  story  of  the  buying  of  this  tomb,  the  cave  of  Mach- 
pelah.  Still  at  Hebron  may  be  seen  a  most  sacred  mosque, 
beneath  which  are  supposed  to  be  buried  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  and  their  wives.  The  book  of  Hebrews  makes  fine 
use  of  the  thought  of  the  apparent  illusiveness  of  Abraham's 
life.  After  speaking  of  him  and  the  other  heroes  of  faith, 
the  author  adds :  "These  all  died  in  faith,  not  having  received 
the  promises,  but  having  seen  them  and  greeted  them  from 
afar,  and  having  confessed  that  they  were  strangers  and 
pilgrims  on  the  earth"  (Heb.  11 :  13).     Long  before  and  long 

52 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [III-i] 

after  the  days  of  the  greatest  glory  of  Athens,  the  Hebrews 
looked  back  to  Abraham  the  man  of  faith. 

Paul  suggests  that  if  we  are  men  of  faith,  we  are  children 
of  Abraham,  heirs  with  him  of  the  promise.  Scarcely  a 
Christian  man  of  the  last  nineteen  centuries  has  started  out 
upon  a  great  adventure  of  faith,  but  has  thought  of  Abraham, 
who,  at  God's  command,  went  out  from  his  country  and  his 
kindred,  and  his  father's  house,  not  knowing  whither  he  went. 
It  would  not  be  strange  if  Abraham  Lincoln  found  in  the 
name  he  bore  a  certain  inspiration,  as  he  pursued  the  pil- 
grimage of  faith.  Doubtless  the  soldiers  who  answered  the 
call  of  "Father  Abraham"  found  help  as  they  wove  together 
their  thoughts  of  the  strong,  sad  man  of  the  White  House 
with  their  thoughts  of  the  Father  of  the  Faithful. 

One  of  the  liberating  words  of  literature  is  this :  "He  be- 
lieved in  Jehovah ;  and  he  reckoned  it  to  him  for  righteous- 
ness" (Gen.  15:6).  Paul  buttressed  his  doctrine  of  Christian 
liberty  with  the  word  (Rom.  4:3,  Gal.  3:6).  And  every 
man  who  has  realized  the  futility  of  works  and  the  salvation 
of  the  trustful  heart,  underscores  with  gratitude  that  word: 
"He  believed  in  Jehovah;  and  he  reckoned  it  to  him  for 
righteousness" 

II.     THE  JACOB  CYCLE 

Passages  from  Gen.  25:  ig  to  Chap.  36 

:  Third  Week,  First  Day. 

I.  Jacob,  the  Son 

Read   Gen.   24   and   27,   whose   interest   is   suggested   by   the 

Study. 

And  Jacob  said  unto  his  father,  I  am  Esau  thy  first- 
born;  I  have  done  according  as  thou  badest  me:  arise, 
I  pray  thee,  sit  and  eat  of  my  venison,  that  thy  soul 
may  bless  me.  And  Isaac  said  unto  his  son.  How  is 
it  that  thou  hast  found  it  so  quickly,  my  son?  And  he 
said,  Because  Jehovah  thy  God  sent  me  good   speed. 

53 


IJ     A- 


liLlGlOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 


And  Isaac  said  unto  Jacob,  Come  near,  I  pray  thee, 
that  I  may  feel  thee,  my  son,  whether  thou  be  my  very 
son  Esau  or  not.  And  Jacob  went  near  unto  Isaac  his 
father:  and  he  felt  him,  and  said.  The  voice  is  Jacob's 
voice,  but  the  hands  are  the  hands  of  Esau.  And  he 
discerned  him  not,  because  his  hands  were  hairy,  as 
his  brother  Esau's  hands:  so  he  blessed  him.  And  he 
said,  Art  thou  my  very  son  Esau?  And  he  said,  I  am. 
And  he  said.  Bring  it  near  to  me,  and  I  will  eat  of  my 
son's  venison,  that  my  soul  may  bless  thee.  And  he 
brought  it  near  to  him,  and  he  did  eat:  and  he  brought 
him  wine,  and  he  drank.  And  his  father  Isaac  said  unto 
him,  Come  near  now,  and  kiss  me,  my  son.  And  he 
came  near,  and  kissed  him :  and  he  smelled  the  smell 
of  his  raiment,  and  blessed  him,  and  said. 

See,  the  smell  of  my  son 

Is  as  the  smell  of  a  field  which  Jehovah  hath 
blessed. — Gen.  27  :  19-27. 

We  do  not  dwell  upon  the  story  of  Isaac.  It  is  of  great 
interest  to  students  of  the  critical  question,  and  to  students 
of  the  customs  and  the  literature  of  the  East.  In  Gen.  24 
there  is  a  charming  sketch  of  Abraham's  effort  to  win  a  bride 
for  Isaac,  "one  of  the  most  perfect  specimens  of  descriptive 
writing  which  the  Book  of  Genesis  contains."  In  our  present 
studies,  Isaac  is  chiefly  of  service  as, the  link  between  Abra- 
ham and  Jacob.  He  is  a  submissive,  peace-loving,  static  sort 
of  man,  who  in  his  latter  days  suffers  from  "fatty  degenera- 
tion of  the  soul,"  and  whose  paternal  interest  is  dictated 
largely  by  his  interest  in  the  venison,  which  his  "soul  loveth." 

As  a  son,  Jacob^  is  pictured  as  utterly  unscrupulous.  He 
betrays  no  trace  of  love  or  loyalty,  is  moved  alone  by  ambi- 
tion, ambition  which  is  saved  from  utter  vileness  only  by  the 
man's  appreciation  of  the  real  values  of  life.  He  is  his 
mother's  son,  a  woman  selfish,  ambitious,  playing  her  favorite 
son  with  meanest  deception  against  her  older  child  and  against 
her  blind  and  aged  husband. 

i.  li^7*  '\^'^.^^,  stories  in  Genesis  in  which  the  narrative  of  the  individual 
n  .  r^l„L  r'T  ^'■°'"  ^'^^  tradition  of  a  tribe.  But  it  is  almost,  impossible 
to  explain  Jacob  and  Esau  as  mere  tribal  reminiscences. 

54 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [HI-i] 

2.  Jacob,  the  Brother 

Now  Isaac  loved  Esau,  because  he  did  eat  of  his 
venison :  and  Rebekah  loved  Jacob.  And  Jacob  boiled 
pottage:  and  Esau  came  in  from  the  field,  and  he  was 
faint :  and  Esau  said  to  Jacob,  Feed  me,  I  pray  thee, 
with  that  same  red  pottage;  for  I  am  faint:  therefore 
was  his  name  called  Edom.  And  Jacob  said,  Sell  me 
first  thy  birthright.  And  Esau  said.  Behold,  I  am  about 
to  die:  and  what  profit  shall  the  birthright  do  to  me? 
And  Jacob  said,  Swear  to  me  first;  and  he  sware  unto 
him :  and  he  sold  his  birthright  unto  Jacob.  And  Jacob 
gave  Esau  bread  and  pottage  of  lentils;  and  he  did  eat 
and  drink,  and  rose  up,  and  went  his  way :  so  Esau 
despised  his  birthright. — Gen.  25  :  28-34. 

As  brother,  Jacob  is  equally  repellent.  With  the  same  care- 
ful cunning  he  takes  advantage  '  of  the  weakness  of  his 
brother,  the  weakness  of  his  father. 

According  to  Oriental  usage,  the  birthright  would  bring  a 
man  a  better  position  in  the  family,  possibly  the  domestic 
priesthood;  also,  a  larger  inheritance  of  material  and  pre- 
sumably of  spiritual  goods. 

Throughout  the  entire  cycle  of  stories,  Esau  appears  the 
more  attractive  character.  He  is  affectionate,  liberal,  a  hale 
fellow  well  met,  forgiving,  or  shall  we  say  forgetful?  But 
in  the  story  of  the  birthright  his  faults  become  conspicuous. 
Big,  husky  man  that  he  is,  he  cries  like  a  starving  baby :  "Be- 
hold, I  am  about  to  die,  and  what  profit  shall  the  birthright 
do  to  me?  Feed  me  with  that  same  red  stuff."  In  similar 
strain  a  college  student  will  say:  "I  am  positively  starving; 
I  must  go  down  town  and  get  a  piece  of  pie."  Esau  would 
not  have  died  if  he  had  eaten  nothing  for  a  month.  He 
was  healthily  hungry ;  that  was  all.  "The  temporal  advantages 
of  the  birthright  are  shadowy,  while  the  spiritual  blessings 
he  cares  not  for."  The  defect  of  the  Esau  character  is  sug- 
gested by  the  writer  to  the  Hebrews :  Esau  is  "profane." 
George  Adam  Smith  has  an  illuminating  suggestion  upon 
this: 

"The  Greek  word  means  literally,  'that  which  may  be  trod- 


[III-2]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

den,'  which  is  unienced,  open  to  the  feet  of  all.  It  was 
applied  to  ground  outside  the  sacred  enclosures  and  temples, 
ground  that  was  common  and  public.  Profane — that  which 
is  in  front  of  the  fane  or  shrine.  Esau  was  a  profane  per- 
son, an  open  and  bare  character,  unfenced  and  unhallowed, 
no  guardian  angels  at  the  doors,  no  gracious  company  within, 
no  fire  upon  the  altar;  but  open  to  his  dogs,  his  passions, 
his  mother's  provocations,  and  his  brother's  wiles." 

In  the  long  run  we  can  more  safely  "bank"  on  a  mean  man 
who  trusts  God,  and  believes  in  the  values  God  can  give,  than 
on  a  good-natured,  passionate,  careless,  profane  man.  Esau 
might  make  a  more  agreeable  room-mate ;  Jacob  would  render 
a  more  permanent  service  to  the  world. 

One  should  read  as  a  bit  of  literature  the  tragic  appeal  of 
Esau  to  his  father  (Gen.  27 :  34-40).  To  an  Oriental,  words 
in  themselves  have  a  magic  efficacy  to  curse  or  bless.  Isaac 
believes  that,  though  Jacob  has  wrested  by  fraud  the  blessing 
from  him,  the  words  which  have  gone  forth  from  his  lips 
cannot  be  recalled,  but  must  descend  in  blessings  upon  the 
head  of  his  unworthy  son.  The  blessing  of  a  father  was 
much  to  be  desired,  as  he  was  in  a  position  to  ask  very  special 
favors  of  the  deity  of  his  clan. 

Third  Week,  Second  Day, 

3.  Jacob,  the  Employe 

Read  Gen.  29  to  31. 

And  it  was  told  Laban  on  the  third  day  that  Jacob 
was  fled.  And  he  took  his  brethren  with  him,  and 
pursued  after  him  seven  days'  journey;  and  he  overtook 
him  in  the  mountain  of  Gilead.  And  God  came  to 
Laban  the  Syrian  in  a  dream  of  the  night,  and  said  unto  . 
him,  Take  heed  to  thyself  that  thou  speak  not  to  Jacob 
either  good  or  bad.  And  Laban  came  up  with  Jacob. 
Now  Jacob  had  pitched  his  tent  in  the  mountain  :  and 
Laban  with  his  brethren  encamped  in  the  mountain  of 
Gilead.  And  Laban  said  to  Jacob,  What  hast  thou  done, 
that  thou  hast  stolen  away  unawares  to  me,  and  carried 
away  my  daughters  as  captives  of  the  sword.?     Where- 

56 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [III-2] 

fore  didst  thou  flee  secretly,  and  steal  away  from  me, 
and  didst  not  tell  me,  that  1  might  have  sent  thee  away 
with  mirth  and  with  songs,  with  tabret  and  with  harp ; 
and  didst  not  suffer  me  to  kiss  my  sons  and  my  daugh- 
ters ?  now  hast  thou  done  foolishly.  It  is  in  the  power 
of  my  hand  to  do  you  hurt:  but  the  God  of  your  father 
spake  unto  me  yesternight,  saying.  Take  heed  to  thy- 
self that  thou  speak  not  to  Jacob  either  good  or  bad. 
And  now,  though  thou  wouldest  needs  be  gone,  be- 
cause thou  sore  longedst  after  thy  father's  house,  yet 
wherefore  hast  thou  stolen  my  gods  ?  And  Jacob  an- 
swered and  said  to  Laban,  Because  I  was  afraid :  for  I 
said,  Lest  thou  shouldest  take  thy  daughters  from  me 
by  force.  With  whomsoever  thou  findest  thy  gods,  he 
shall  not  live :  before  our  brethren  discern  thou  what 
is  thine  with  me,  and  take  it  to  thee.  For  Jacob  knew 
not  that  Rachel  had  stolen  them. — Gen.  31 :  22-32. 

As  an  employe,  Jacob  is  no  more  attractive.  In  the  Syrian 
Laban  he  meets  a  man  as  crafty  as  himself,  but  with  less 
skill  of  execution.^ 

After  various  successful  artifices,  Jacob,  the  employe, 
escapes  from  his  employer,  bearing  away  his  wives — Laban's 
two  daughters — a  goodly  number  of  flocks  and  herds,  and  the 
teraphim  or  household  gods,  which  Rachel,  if  not  Jacob, 
regards  as  highly  desirable  assets. 

At  last  an  agreement  is  made  between  Jacob  and  Laban, 
and  ratified  by  a  heap  of  stones  or  a  pillar,  which  is  forever 
to  separate  the  Syrians  from  the  sons  of  Jacob.  It  is  a 
matter  of  curious  interest  that  the  last  word  of  Laban  to  his 
keen,  overreaching  rival  has  come  into  use  as  the  Mizpah 
benediction :  "The  Lord  watch  between  me  and  thee,  while 
we  are  absent  one  from  another."  The  words  in  their  original 
connection  are  an  adjuration  to  the  watchful  God  that  when 
the  two  unscrupulous  men  part  from  each  other,  God  himself 
may  punish  the  man  who  breaks  the  covenant. 


8  The  student  will  recognize  in  the  narrative  elements  of  the  older,  bald, 
picturesque  story,  which  rather  enjoys  the  shrewdness  of  Jacob,  and  has  no 
apology  to  make  for  his  lack  of  scruple;  he  will  also  meet  with  material  from 
the  later  group  of  writers  who  undertake  the  rather  difficult  task  of  moral- 
izing the  character  of  Jacob. 

57 


IIII-2]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE   OF  ISRAEL 

4.  Jacob,  the  Religionist 
a.  The  Fugitive  at  Bethel.    Gen.  28:  10-22 

And  Jacob  went  out  from  Beer-sheba,  and  went 
toward  Haran.  And  he  lighted  upon  a  certain  place, 
and  tarried  there  all  night,  because  the  sun  was  set; 
and  he  took  one  of  the  stones  of  the  place,  and  put  it 
under  his  head,  and  lay  down  in  that  place  to  sleep. 
And  he  dreamed;  and,  behold,  a  ladder  set  up  on  the 
earth,  and  the  top  of  it  reached  to  heaven;  and,  behold, 
the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  on  it.  And, 
behold,  Jehovah  stood  above  it,  and  said,  I  am  Jehovah, 
the  God  of  Abraham  thy  father,  and  the  God  of 
Isaac :  the  land  whereon  thou  liest,  to  thee  will  I  give 
it,  and  to  thy  seed ;  and  thy  seed  shall  be  as  the  dust 
of  the  earth,  and  thou  shalt  spread  abroad  to  the  west, 
and  to  the  east,  and  to  the  north,  and  to  the  south : 
and  in  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  be  blessed.  And,  behold,  I  am  with  thee,  and 
will  keep  thee  whithersoever  thou  goest,  and  will  bring 
thee  again  into  this  land ;  for  I  will  not  leave  thee,  until 
I  have  done  that  which  I  have  spoken  to  thee  of.  And 
Jacob  awaked  out  of  his  sleep,  and  he  said.  Surely 
Jehovah  is  in  this  place;  and  I  knew  it  not.  And  he 
was  afraid,  and  said.  How  dreadful  is  this  place!  this 
is  none  other  than  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the 
gate  of  heaven. 

And  Jacob  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  took 
the  stone  that  he  had  put  under  his  head,  and  set  it  up 
for  a  pillar,  and  poured  oil  upon  the  top  of  it.  And 
he  called  the  name  of  that  place  Beth-el :  but  the  name 
of  the  city  was  Luz  at  the  first. — Gen.  28:  10-19. 

Some  Occidentals  seem  to  be  able  to  keep' their  religion  in 
a  compartment  by  itself,  where  it  does  not  "interfere  with 
business  or  politics."  To  the  Oriental  every  act  of  life  is 
shot  through  with  religion.  But  we  would  note  three  inci- 
dents in  which  Jacob  appears  in  a  special  sense  as  Jehovah's 
devotee. 

On  the  site  of  the  ancient  Bethel  there  is  "a  natural  stone 
circle"  and  a  "curious  formation  of  the  rocks  in  terraces  and 
ramparts."     The    exile,   Jacob,    is    pictured   as    seeing   in    his 

58 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [111-2] 

dream  a  ladder,  or  flight  of  steps,  leading  up  to  heaven,  and 
angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon  it.  God's 
voice  speaks  to  him  in  words  of  lavish  promise,  saymg :  "I 
will  not  leave  thee  till  I  have  done  that  which  I  have  spoken 
to  thee  of."  The  dreamer  wakes  to  realize  that  he  is  on  holy 
ground ;  he  transforms  his  stone  pillow  into  a  pillar,  and 
anoints  it  with  oil,  for  he  recognizes  that  that  stone  is  surely 
the  house  or  home  of  God. 

The  story  deeply  impressed  itself  upon  Jacob's  descendants. 
In  John's  gospel  it  furnishes  the  striking  symbolism  of  the 
words  of  Jesus  to  Nathanael :  "Ye  shall  see  the  heaven 
opened,  and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending 
upon  the  Son  of  man"  (John  1:51).  Christ,  like  the  ancient 
staircase  of  the  dreamer,  would  become  the  medium  of  com- 
munication between  the  downmost  man  and  the  highest 
heaven.  "No  one  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  me"  (John 
14:6). 

As  the  early  Hebrews  told  this  old  story  to  their  children, 
they  may  not  have  conceived  of  the  God  of  their  story  as 
utterly  different  from  those  spirits  who  the  "heathen"  sup- 
posed haunted  and  made  "sacred"  certain  stones  and  trees 
and  wells  and  hills.  Today  in  Palestine  pilgrims  journey 
to  sites  which  were  "sacred"  in  the  dim  days  before  Abraham 
set  foot  in  Canaan.^  But  it  is  the  wonder  of  the  Genesis 
narratives  that,  in  the  midst  of  tales  of  trickery  and  treachery 
and  lust,  we  come  upon  a  story  like  this,  in  which  the  latest 
generations  have  seen  pictured  their  own  lofty,  redeeming 
experiences  with  God. 

As  we  read  again  the  story  of  the  fugitive  at  Bethel,  it 
speaks  home  to  our  hearts  such  truths  as  these : 

God  is  not  remote  from  the  loneliest  man  of  earth. 

"Not  where  the  wheeling  systems  darken, 
And  our  benumbed  conceiving  soars ; 
The  drift  of  pinions,  would  we  hearken, 
Beats  at  our  own  clay-shuttered   doors. 


9  Samuel  Ives  Curtiss,  "Primitive  Semitic  Religion  Today.' 

59 


[III-3]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

The  angels  keep  their  ancient  places : — 
Turn  but  a  stone,  and  start  a  wing! 
'Tis  ye,  'tis  your  estranged  faces, 
That  miss  the  many-splendoured  thing." 

There  is  no  man  so  low  but  God  can  reach  him. 

"But  when  so  sad  thou  canst  not  sadder 
Cry ; — and  upon  thy  so  sore  loss 
Shall  shine  the  traffic  of  Jacob's  ladder 
Pitched  betwixt  Heaven  and  Charing  Cross." 

Nor  is  there  any  man  so  completely  whipped  but  he  may  win 
a  victory  on  the  scene  of  his  utter  defeat. 

Third  Week,  Third  Day. 

b.  Jacob  at  Jabbok 

Read  Gen.  32  for  context. 

And  he  rose  up  that  night,  and  took  his  two  wives, 
and  his  two  handmaids,  and  his  eleven  children,  and 
passed  over  the  ford  of  the  Jabbok.  And  he  took  them, 
and  sent  them  over  the  stream,  and  sent  over  that 
which  he  had.  And  Jacob  was  left  alone;  and  there 
wrestled  a  man  with  him  until  the  breaking  of  the  day. 
And  when  he  saw  that  he  prevailed  not  against  him,  he 
touched  the  hollow  of  his  thigh ;  and  the  hollow  of 
Jacob's  thigh  was  strained,  as  he  wrestled  with  him. 
And  he  said.  Let  me  go,  for  the  day  breaketh.  And 
he  said,  I  will  not  let  thee  go,  except  thou  bless  me. 
And  he  said  unto  him.  What  is  thy  name?  And  he 
said,  Jacob.  And  he  said.  Thy  name  shall  be  called 
no  more  Jacob,  but  Israel :  for  thou  hast  striven  with 
God  and  with  men,  and  hast  prevailed.  And  Jacob 
asked  him,  and  said.  Tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  thy  name. 
And  he  said,  Wherefore  is  it  that  thou  dost  ask  after 
my  name?  And  he  blessed  him  there.  And  Jacob  called 
the  name  of  the  place  Peniel :  for,  said  he,  I  have  seen 
God  face  to  face,  and  my  life  is  preserved. — Gen.  32: 
22-30. 

Here  is  a  man  who  for  years  has  been  fighting  in  complete 
reliance  upon  his  familiar  weapons  of  shrewdness,  craft,  cun- 
ning:  fighting  on  the  whole  a  winning  battle.     Now,   like  a 

60 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [III-3] 

Nemesis,  his  brother,  whom  he  has  deeply  wronged,  ap- 
proaches, with  four  hundred  men.  Jacob  is  alert,  uses  every 
safety  device  which  his  knowledge  of  Esau  and  his  ingenuity 
can  contrive.  But  a  great  dread  seizes  him.  He  realizes  that 
God  is  his  real  antagonist.  The  mean  little  supplanter  cannot 
cheat  God.  No  trick  will  serve  him  now.  One  touch  of  the 
supernatural  hand  can  paralyze  his  strength.  With  God,  only 
his  humility,  his  perseverance,  his  sense  of  the  worth  of  God's 
values  will  count.  "There  wrestled  a  man  with  him  until  the 
breaking  of  the  day."  Unable  to  defeat  his  divine  opponent, 
"with  strong  crying  and  tears"  he  holds  him,  and  pleads,  "I 
will  not  let  thee  go  except  thou  bless  me."  And  the  bless- 
ing comes  in  a  change  of  name,  which  involves,  it  may  be, 
a  change  of  nature.  No  longer  heel-catcher,  supplanter,  he 
is  nozv  Israel:  "for  thou  hast  striven  with  God  and  with  men, 
and  hast  prevailed." 

Did  the  Hebrew  story  tellers  find  in  the  narrative  all  that 
we  find?  Perhaps  not.  One  naturally  thinks  of  the  experi- 
ence of  Jacob  as  a  dream  or  vision  of  the  night.  The  nar- 
rator evidently  thinks  of  an  actual  contest  with  a  supernatural 
being,  a  contest  from  which  Jacob  rose  with  the  sinew  of 
his  thigh  strained. 

To  the  early  listeners  the  story  brought  a  plausible,  satisfy- 
ing explanation  of  origins :  How  does  it  happen  that  we  do 
not  eat  the  flesh  of  the  sciatic  muscle  (evidently  an  old  tribal 
taboo)  ?  How  shall  we  account  for  the  name  of  this  place 
Peniel,'"  the  name  of  this  brook  Jabbok,  our  tribal  name, 
Israel? 

c.  Bethel  Revisited 

And  God  said  unto  Jacob,  Arise,  go  up  to  Beth-el, 
and  dwell  there :  and  make  there  an  altar  unto  God,  who 
appeared  unto  thee  when  thou  fleddest  from  the  face 
of  Esau  thy  brother.  Then  Jacob  said  unto  his  house- 
hold,  and    to   all    that   were   with    him.    Put   away   the 


If  Children  and  child  people  are  charmed  with  explanations  of  names  based 
upon  assonance  or  chance  resemblances  of  sound.  The  name  Peniel  (Face  of 
God)  may  have  been  suggested  by  "some  projecting  rock,  in  whose  contour 
a  face  was  seen."     (Cf.  Hawthorne's,  "The  Great  Stone  Face.") 

61 


[III-3]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

foreign  gods  that  are  among  you,  and  purify  your- 
selves, and  change  your  garments :  and  let  us  arise,  and 
go  up  to  Beth-el ;  and  I  will  make  there  an  altar  unto 
God,  who  answered  me  in  the  day  of  my  distress,  and 
was  with  me  in  the  way  which  I  went.  And  they  gave 
unto  Jacob  all  the  foreign  gods  which  were  in  their 
hand,  and  the  rings  which  were  in  their  ears ;  and 
Jacob  hid  them  under  the  oak  which  was  by  Shechem. 
And  they  journeyed:  and  a  terror  of  God  was  upon 
the  cities  that  were  round  about  them,  and  they  did 
not  pursue  after  the  sons  of  Jacob.  So  Jacob  came  to 
Luz,  which  is  in  the  land  of  Canaan  (the  same  is 
Beth-cl).  he  and  all  the  people  that  were  with  him.  And 
he  built  there  ari  altar,  and  called  the  place  El-beth-el; 
because  there  God  was  revealed  unto  him,  when  he  fled 
from  the  face  of  his  brother. — Gen.  35 :  1-7. 

A  prosperous  man,  Jacob  now  fulfils  a  long  delayed  vow — 
goes  back  to  the  scene  of  his  early  exile,  agony,  and  vision, 
to  build  an  altar  unto  the  God  who  appeared  to  him  in  the 
day  when  he  fled  from  his  brother.  Thus  does  a  successful 
man  of  the  city  slip  back  to  the  old  New  England  home,  to 
the  little  white  church  of  his  childhood,  to  stand  once  more 
before  the  altar,  to  renew  the  vows  made  when  for  the  first 
time  he  broke  home  ties  and  set  out  to  make  his  fortune, 
"^hus  does  a  soldier  leave  for  an  hour  the  "mud  and  blood 
and  blasphemy"  of  the  trenches,  to  renew  his  childhood  vows 
in  some  ancient  shrine. 

In  the  story  there  is  a  suggestive  reference  to  foreign  gods, 
possibly  the  teraphim,  or  lares  and  penates,  to  which  custom 
and  superstition  obstinately  clung.  The  prophetic  compilers 
of  the  ancient  narratives  wished  their  readers  inwardly  to 
digest  this  word  that  Jacob  told  his  family  to  put  away  all 
these  foreign  gods.  For  centuries  Jacob's  descendants  very 
cheerily  retained  images  in  their  worship  even  of  Jehovah. 

But  it  is  worth  noting  that  there  are  few  people  today  who 
do  not  cherish  some  of  these  foreign  gods,  and  betray  the 
smallness  of  their  faith  in  Jehovah.  An  aged  man,  honored 
as  an  able  and  intelligent  Christian  citizen,  when  picking  a 
basketful   of    strawberries,   first  threw   a   luscious   strawberry 

62 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [III-4] 

over  his  head  "to  play  safe" — but  with  whom,  with  what? 
Lincoln  would  not  begin  a  journey  on  Friday.  Many  a  man, 
quite  sure  of  his  Christianity,  will  not  sit  down  as  the  thir- 
teenth at  a  table.  It  was  wise  of  John  Paton  to  throw  the 
most  cherished  idols  of  his  New  Hebrides  converts  into  the 
deepest  waters  of  the  sea,  for  idols  have  a  curious  habit  of 
refusing  permanent  burial.  Jacob  advises  us,  not  only  to 
revisit  Bethel,  but,  before  beginning  the  journey,  to  put  away 
the  foreign  gods  that  are  among  us. 

Third  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

5.  Jacob,  the  Father 

Read  Gen.  37:  1-4,  29-36;  42:  1-4,  42:35-43:  15,  passages  help- 
ful in  the  study  of  Jacob's  character,  and  frequently  re- 
ferred to  in  modern  literature. 

While  belonging  strictly  to  the  Joseph  Cycle,  the  incidents 
which  reveal  Jacob  as  father  may  be  briefly  suggested  here. 
He  had  deceived  his  own  father,  now  his  sons  deceive  him. 
He  trusts  none  of  the  ten,  but  dotes  upon  his  two  youngest 
sons  with  a  love  which  reminds  one  of  senility.  Suspicious 
to  the  last,  he  believes  that  all  things  are  against  him.  He 
is  induced  to  go  down  into  Egypt  only  by  the  sight  of  the 
wagons  sent  by  Joseph  for  his  comfort.  The  record  gives 
us  a  striking  picture  of  the  aged  shepherd  Jacob,  now  130 
years  old,  this  bargain-maker  with  the  Most  High,  standing 
before  the  Pharaoh,  to  give  him  an  old  man's  blessing  (Gen. 
47:7-10). 

The  story  of  Jacob  ends  with  a  funeral  procession,  and  his 
burial  in  the  family  tomb  in  Hebron. 

It  would  have  been  impossible  for  the  compilers  of  the 
ancient  narratives  to  ignore  Jacob,  even  if  they  had  chosen 
to  do  so.  In  his  character  and  in  the  incidents  of  his  career, 
he  came  much  closer  to  the  experience  of  his  descendants 
than  did  Abraham.  In  his  fierce  pursuit  of  those  earthly 
blessings  which  he  saw  gained  value  only  as  they  were  really 

^2 


[III-5]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

blessed  by  his  God;  in  his  cunning  artifices  to  baffle  cunning 
foes;  in  his  sudden  discoveries  of  deity  in  the  hard  and 
common  pathways  of  the  world;  in  his  struggle  with  the 
divine,  in  which  he  overcame  as  he  was  overcome,  the  whole 
people  of  Israel  read  their  own  experience.  And  they  loved 
this  man  Jacob,  and  proudly  called  themselves  his  children,  the 
Children  of  Israel. 

III.    THE  JOSEPH  CYCLE 

Passages  from  Genesis,  Chapters  37  to  50 
Third  Week,  Fifth  Day, 

I.  Joseph,  the  Son 

And  he  dreamed  yet  another  dream,  and  told  it  to  his 
brethren,  and  said,  Behold,  I  have  dreamed  yet  a  dream; 
and,  behold,  the  sun  and  the  moon  and  eleven  stars 
made  obeisance  to  me.  And  he  told  it  to  his  father, 
and  to  his  brethren ;  and  his  father  rebuked  him,  and 
said  unto  him.  What  is  this  dream  that  thou  hast 
dreamed?  Shall  I  and  thy  mother  and  thy  brethren 
indeed  come  to  bow  .down  ourselves  to  thee  to  the 
earth?  And  his  brethren  envied  him;  but  his  father 
kept  the  saying  in  mind. — Gen.  37:9-11. 

And  Joseph  made  ready  his  chariot,  and  went  up  to 
meet  Israel  his  father,  to  Goshen ;  and  he  presented 
himself  unto  him,  and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  wept  on 
his  neck  a  good  while.  And  Israel  said  unto  Joseph, 
Now  let  me  die,  since  I  have  seen  thy  face,  that  thou 
art  yet  alive. — Gen.  46 :  29,  30. 

As  a  young  fellow,  Joseph  is  rather  priggish.  It  is  a  fine 
thing  to  have  dreams,  and  a  finer  thing  to  be  true  to  them; 
but  it  is  seldom  wise  to  tell  them  to  one's  brothers ;  not  always 
is  it  judicious  to  mention  them  to  one's  father.  Joseph's 
later  treatment  of  his  father  is  very  beautiful — unless  there  is 
truth  in  the  thought  of  the  writer  who  is  pained  that  Joseph, 
when  risen  to  power,  seems  not  to  have  made  an  eflfort  to 
communicate  with  his  father  until  famine  drove  his  brothers 
down  to  Egypt.    But  we  must  not  be  too  censorious  in  charac- 

64 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [III-5] 

terizing   one   whose    story    is    not   a    memorandum    of    daily 
doings. 

2.  Joseph,  the  Brother 

Read  Gen.  37,  44,  45,  noting  the  vividness  of  portraiture,  the 
pathos  of  Judah's  plea,  the  almost  unique  attitude  of  Joseph 
to  his  brothers. 

Then  Joseph  could  not  refrain  himself  before  all 
them  that  stood  by  him ;  and  he  cried,  Cause  every 
man  to  go  out  from  me.  And  there  stood  no  man 
with  him,  while  Joseph  made  himself  known  unto  his 
brethren.  And  he  wept  aloud :  and  the  Egyptians  heard, 
and  the  house  of  Pharaoh  heard.  And  Joseph  said 
unto  his  brethren,  I  am  Joseph ;  doth  my  father  yet 
live?  And  his  brethren  could  not  answer  him;  for 
they  were  troubled  at  his  presence.  And  Joseph  said 
unto  his  brethren,  Come  near  to  me,  I  pray  you.  And 
they  came  near.  And  he  said,  I  am  Joseph  your  brother, 
whom  ye  sold  into  Egypt.  And  now  be  not  grieved, 
nor  angry  with  yourselves,  that  ye  sold  me  hither :  for 
God  did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve  life. — Gen.  45: 
1-5. 

As  a  brother,  Joseph  in  the  early  days  is  sufficiently  irritat- 
ing, but  in  the  denouement  of  the  story,  he  reveals  himself  as 
possibly  the  ideal  character  of  the  Old  Testament.  Such  for- 
giveness as  his  is  practically  unknown  in  the  "heathen"  world. 
In  the  Old  Testament,  his  spirit  can  be  matched  only  by  that 
of  Moses.  We  shall  see  David  on  his  death-bed  bequeathing 
vengeance  to  his  son,  Solomon.  Concerning  Shimei,  who 
taunted  the  king  in  the  day  of  his  distress,  David  says  to  his 
son :  "Now  therefore  hold  him  not  guiltless,  for  thou  art  a 
wise  man ;  and  thou  wilt  know  what  thou  oughtest  to  do  unto 
him,  and  thou  shalt  bring  his  hoar  head  down  to  Sheol  with 
blood"  (I  Kings  2:9).  Again  we  shall  see  Jeremiah,  the 
man  who,  of  all  the  prophets,  most  nearly  approaches  the 
character  of  Jesus,  still  calling  down  curses  upon  his  own 
fellow-townsmen  of  Anathoth,  the  very  playmates  of  his 
childhood  (Jer.  ii:2off).  Quite  reasonably,  Joseph's  brethren 
refuse  to  believe  that  his  forgiveness  is  genuine,  and  believe, 

65 


[111-5]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

rather,  that  after  their  father's  death  he  will  "get  even"  with 
them.  This  forgiveness  is  by  no  means  forgetfulness.  He 
remembers  what  they  have  done,  and  remembers  as  well  their 
characteristics.  What  a  suggestive  little  hint  he  gives  them 
as  he  sends  them  home  with  food  for  their  families:  "See 
that  ye  fall  not  out  by  the  way"  (Gen.  45-24). 


3.  Joseph,  the  Ruler 

Read  Gen.  47,  an  illuminating  study  in  pre-Christian  politics 
and  ethics. 

So  Joseph  bought  all  the  land  of  Egypt  for  Pharaoh ; 
for  the  Egyptians  sold  every  man  his  field,  because  the 
famine  was  sore  upon  them:  and  the  land  became 
Pharaoh's.  And  as  for  the  people,  he  removed  them 
to  the  cities  from  one  end  of  the  border  of  Egypt 
even  to  the  other  end  thereof.  Only  the  land  of  the 
priests  bought  he  not :  for  the  priests  had  a  portion 
from  Pharaoh,  and  did  eat  their  portion  which  Pharaoh 
gave  them ;  wherefore  they  sold  not  their  land.  Then 
Joseph  said  unto  the  people,  Behold,  I  have  bought  you 
this  day  and  your  land  for  Pharaoh :  lo,  here  is  seed 
for  you,  and  ye  shall  sow  the  land.  And  it  shall  come 
to  pass  at  the  ingatherings,  that  ye  shall  give  a  fifth 
unto  Pharaoh,  and  four  parts  shall  be  your  own,  for 
seed  of  the  field,  and  for  your  food,  and  for  them 
of  your  households,  and  for  food  for  your  little  ones. 
And  they  said.  Thou  hast  saved  our  lives  :  let  us  find 
favor  in  the  sight  of  my  lord,  and  we  will  be  Pharaoh's 
servants. — Gen.  47 :  20-25. 

"By  a  bold  stroke  of  statesmanship,  private  property  in  land, 
save  in  the  case  of  the  priests,  is  abolished  throughout  Egypt, 
and  the  entire  population  reduced  to  the  position  of  serfs." 
National  food  control  has  been  known  in  later  times  and  in 
less  despotic  lands  than  that  of  Egypt,  but  it  has  been  exer- 
cised presumably  in  the  interest  of  the  ultimate  freedom  of 
"the  common  people."  The  grain  policy  of  Joseph  is  ante- 
Christian  and  essentially  anti-Christian.  Kipling  somewhat 
irreverently  inquires : 

66 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [III-6] 

"Who  shall  doubt  the  secret  hid 
Under  Cheops'  pyramid 
Was  that  the  contractor  did 

Cheops  out  of  several  millions, 
Or  that  Joseph's  sudden  rise 
To  Comptroller  of  Supplies 
Was  a  fraud  of  monstrous  size 

On  King  Pharaoh's  swart  civilians?" 

But  so  far  from  being  a  monster  himself,  Joseph  was,  if 
we  may  judge  from  the  record,  ahead  of  his  age,  and  not 
behind  the  ethics  of  the  compiler  of  his  story,  who  delights 
in  the  words  of  gratitude  and  adulation  of  the  people  now 
made  slaves,  but  saved  from  starvation :  "Thou  hast  saved 
our  lives :  let  us  find  favor  in  the  sight  of  my  lord,  and  we 
will  be  Pharaoh's  servants"   (Gen,  47:25). 

Even  in  our  own  day  political  and  business  morality  have 
not  begun  to  keep  pace  with  personal  morality.  And  many 
men  of  spotless  personal  and  family  life  have  not  hesitated 
to  corrupt  legislatures  and  to  house  employes  in  tenements 
whose  wretchedness  cries  to  heaven. 

Third  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

4.  Joseph,  the  Religionist 

Read  Gen.  39,  40,  41,  to  find  the  religious  roots  of  Joseph's 
conduct,  the  secret  of  his  life  mastery, 

A  man's  whole  life  is  determined  by  the  God  he  worships. 
Joseph's  life  is  pictured  as  dominated  by  a  holy,  unescapable 
God,  Far  from  home,  in  the  land  of  alien  deities,  whom  his 
contemporaries  certainly  regarded  as  alive  and  powerful ; 
a  slave,  presumably  bereft  of  his  God  who  ruled  alone  in 
Canaan ;  this  man  cries :  "How  can  I  do  this  great  wicked- 
ness, and  sin  against  God?"  In  prison,  he  realizes  that  his 
God  is  with  him.  In  his  dream-telling,  he  thinks  of  God  as 
revealer.  "Do  not  interpretations  belong  to  God?  .  .  .  God 
will  give  Pharaoh  an  answer  of  peace."  Joseph's  God,  more- 
over, is  master  of  events.     In  a  very  fine  passage  we  hear 

67 


[III-6]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Joseph  say  to  his  brothers :  "As  for  you,  ye  meant  evil  against 
me ;  but  God  meant  it  for  good,  to  bring  to  pass,  as  it  is  this 
day,  to  save  much  people  alive"  (Gen.  50:20).  Ever  his  God 
stands  "within  the  shadow,  keeping  watch  above  his  own." 

In  our  later  studies  we  shall  see  that  the  Hebrews  did  not 
generally  and  clearly  attain  to  the  conviction  of  the  one  sole, 
universal,  righteous  God  until  the  Babylonian  Exile,  586  B.  C. 
Grant  the  late  editing  of  our  present  narrative,  it  is  practically 
certain  that  in  very  early  times  Joseph  was  portrayed  as 
possessing  for  himself  a  practical  working  faith  in  a  God 
who  could  go  with  him  in  his  journeys,  stay  by  him  in  his 
temptations,  guide  him  in  his « speech,  save  him  from  his 
enemies,  and  above  all  keep  him  true  to  the  ideals  of  his  boy- 
hood. 

Dr.  Taylor  used  to  say,  "Young  man,  be  true  to  the  dreams 
of  your  youth." 

"A  melancholy,  life-o'er-wearied  man 
Sat  in  his  lonely  room,  and  wich  slow  breath 
Counted  his  losses,  thrice  wrecked  plan  on  plan, 
Failure  of  friend  and  hope  and  heart  and  faith. 
This  last  the  deadliest,  and  holding  all. 
Room  was  there  none  for  weeping,  for  the  years 
Had  stolen  all  his  treasury  of  tears. 
Then  on  a  page,  where  his  eye  chanced  to  fall. 
There  sprang  such  words  of  courage  that  they  seemed 
Cries  on  a  battle  field,  or  as  one  dreamed 
Of  trumpets  sounding  charges;  on  he  read 
With  fixed  gaze,  and  sad,  down  drooping  head, 
And  curious,  half  remembering,  musing  mind. 
The   ringing  of  that  voice  had   something  stirred 
In  his  deep  heart,  like  music  long  since  heard, 
'Brave  words,'  he  sighed,  and  looked  where  they  were  signed. 
There,  reading  his  own  name,  tears  made  him  blind." 

There  is  not  a  man  of  us  who  has  not  dreamed  royal  dreams 
like  those  of  Joseph.  Each  of  us  might  find  in  some  old  book, 
written  in  school-boy  hand,  words,  brave  words,  of  faith  and 
purity.  But  the  Philippines  and  the  treaty-ports  of  the  Orient 
have  sad  stories  to  tell  of  modern  Josephs,  who  dreamed,  then 
doubted,  and  went  down.    On  the  other  hand,  history  delights 

68 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [III-7] 

to  teach  us  of  the  man  who  one  day  takes  lunches  to  his 
brothers,  another  day  feeds  a  nation  and  a  race ;  of  the 
weaver-boy  who  one  day  goes  down  to  that  same  land  of 
Africa,  to  expose  and  to  begin  the  healing  of  the  open  sore 
of  a  continent. 

That  is  a  fine  word  of  Lowell: 

"In  life's  small  things  be  resolute  and  great, 
To  keep  thy  muscles  trained ;  know'st  thou  when  Fate 
Thy  measure  takes?  or  when  she'll  say  to  thee, 
T  find  thee  worthy,  do  this  thing  for  me'?" 

Third  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

The  Joseph  Cycle  consists  of  several  strands  of  narrative, 
now  lying  side  by  side,  now  interwoven.  The  vividness  of 
the  portraiture  can  scarcely  be  matched  in  literature.  Note 
the-  description  of  the  scene  when  Joseph  saw  at  last  his 
brother  Benjamin:  "Joseph  made  haste;  for  his  heart  yearned 
over  his  brother  r  and  he  sought  where  to  weep ;  and  he  en- 
tered into  his  chamber,  and  wept  there.  And  he  washed  his 
face,  and  came  out;  and  he  refrained  himself,  and  said,  Set 
on  bread"  (Gen.  43:30,  31).  The  story-teller  does  not  dilate 
upon  the  psychology  of  the  incident.  All  is  told  in  the  deeds 
and  the  speech  of  the  chief  actor.  Again  study  the  tragic, 
beautiful  plea  of  Judah  on  behalf  of  his  brother,  Benjamin 
(Gen.  44:  19-34). 

Scholars  have  noted  the  extraordinary  lifelikeness  of  the 
narrative.  For  example:  we  know  that  the  birthday  of  the 
Pharaoh  was  celebrated  by  amnesties  granted  to  prisoners. 
The  dreams  of  Pharaoh  are  dreams  natural  enough  to  one 
who  is  the  ruler  of  a  country  which  is  the  daughter  of  the 
Nile.  On  the  monuments  the  Osiris  steer  and  seven  cows 
often  appear.  Before  he  goes  in  to  see  the  king,  Joseph 
shaves  himself,  not  merely  perhaps  that  he  may  be  decently 
clean,  but  because  only  foreigners  and  Egyptians  of  low  birth 
are  accustomed  to  wear  beards.  The  story  tells  us  that  "shep- 
herds are  an  abomination  to  the  Egyptians,"  and  again  we 

69 


[III-7]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

know  from  inscriptions  that  the  keepers  of  oxen  and  swine 
were  thought  to  follow  degrading  occupations.  The  Land  of 
Goshen  has  been  identified.  In  the  supposed  time  of  our 
story,  this  region  was  marsh  land  which  might  well  have 
been  given  to  foreigners  without  despoiling  the  native  popula- 
tion. 

Three  quotations  may  well  close  this  study :  The  Hyksos 
dynasty,  1788-1580  B.  C.  was  undoubtedly  Semitic.  "More- 
over the  scarabs  of  a  Pharaoh  who  evidently  belonged  to  the 
Hyksos  time  give  his  name  as  Jacob-her  or  possibly  Jacob-el, 
and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  some  chief  of  the  Jacob  tribes 
of  Israel  for  a  time  gained  the  leadership  in  this  obscure  age. 
Such  an  incident  would  account  surprisingly  well  for  the 
entrance  of  these  tribes  into  Egypt,  which  on  any  hypothesis 
must  have  taken  place  at  about  this  age"  (Breasted,  "History 
of  Egypt,"  p.  220). 

About  1580,  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Hyksos,  Ahmose  I 
saw  to  it  that  the  feudal  lords  disappeared.  "The  lands  which 
formed  their  hereditary  possessions  were  confiscated,  and 
passed  to  the  crown,  where  they  permanently  remained. 
(There  was  one  exception  to  this.)  All  Egypt  was  now  the 
personal  estate  of  the  Pharaoh.  ...  It  is  this  state  of  affairs 
which  in  Hebrew  tradition  was  represented  as  the  direct  result 
of  Joseph's  sagacity"  (Breasted,  "History  of  Egypt,"  p.  229). 

In  the  Tel  el  Amarna  letters  (see  p.  45)  there  is  an  inci- 
dent strikingly  similar  to  that  recorded  of  Joseph.  "Yanhamu, 
whose  name  suggests  Semitic  origin,  seems  to  have  had  con- 
trol of  the  state  granaries,  and  complaints  were  made  of  the 
difficulty  of  securing  supplies  from  this  high-handed  official ; 
in  particular  it  is  alleged  that  the  people  have  had  to  part  with 
their  sons  and  their  daughters,  and  the  very  woodwork  of 
their  houses,  in  return  for  corn"  (Int.  Com.,  p.  502). 

The  records  of  Egypt  give  us  thus  far  no  word  of  Joseph, 
but  they  do  give  us  a  situation  into  which  his  life  and  work 
would  easily  fit.  If  we  could  read  on  obelisk,  pyramid,  or 
temple  wall  the  detailed  record  of  his  career,  the  story  of 
Joseph  could  hardly  be  more  significant  to  us,  a  story  which 

70 


EARLY  HEBREW  HEROES  [III-7] 

has  woven  itself  into  the  fabric  of  the  thought  and  literature 
of  the  world. 

Concluding  Note  on  Genesis 

An  American  was  riding  on  a  street-car  in  Shanghai,  China. 
A  Chinese  came  courteously  to  his  side,  and  said,  "Washing- 
ton." A  Frenchman  was  in  Russia  in  the  earlier  days  of  the 
Great  War.  He  saw  some  Russian  soldiers  talking  about 
him ;  then  one  of  them  came  to  him,  saluted,  and,  with  the 
one  French  word  he  knew,  said,  "Verdun."  There  is  not  an 
American  whose  honor  is  not  more  sacred  to  him  because 
of  Washington.  There  is  not  a  Frenchman  whose  heroism 
is  not  more  tenacious  because  of  the  memory  of  Verdun. 

The  men  and  the  incidents  recorded  in  Genesis  were  the 
inspiration  to  honor,  heroism,  faith,  to  the  Hebrew  people 
throughout  their  whole  national  existence.  And  even  in  the 
days  of  Israel's  lowest  estate,  there  were  doubtless  thousands 
who  lived  finer  lives  because  their  childhood  thoughts  were 
enriched  by  the  stories  we  have  studied. 

As  students  of  religion,  our  study  of  Genesis  should  help 
us  to  enter  more  appreciatively  into  the  treasure-houses  of  life 
and  thought,  from  which  the  prophetic  spirits  of  later  times 
gathered  warning  and  inspiration  for  their  people.  But  we 
are  more  than  students  of  religion.  As  religious  men,  we 
may  gain  from  our  study  certain  permanent  assets : 

a.  We  may  renew  our  acquaintance  with  stories  which  have 
influenced  the  religious  thinking  of  the  Christian  world. 

b.  We  may  enter  into  lasting  friendship  with  the  old  heroes 
who  in  the  midst  of  gross  darkness  found  and  followed,  how- 
ever falteringly,  the  light  which  makes  for  us  our  day. 

c.  We  may  understand  more  clearly  the  way  in  which  God 
slowly  unveils  himself  to  humanity,  in  the  lives  of  leaders 
who  share  with  others  their  best  visions  of  God ;  a  God  who 
guides,  delivers,  vindicates,  punishes,  redeems,  a  God  who  is 
always  seeking  to  give  humanity  a  new  start,  and,  as  well,  a 
new  heart. 

71 


[Ill-q]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  Compare  and  contrast  with  each  other  the  migrations  of 
Abraham,  of  the  Pilgrims,  of  the  Jamestown  colonists,  of 
the  present-day  immigrants  to  America  from  Europe. 

2.  What  was  wrong  in  Lot's  choice?  How  do  men  today 
make  that  choice?  Isn't  it  legitimate  for  a  man  to  choose  a 
home  in  a  well-irrigated  section,  simply  because  it  is  well 
irrigated? 

3.  Study  the  use  made  by  the  book  of  Hebrews  of  the 
character  of  Melchizedek. 

4.  If  you  had  known  as  young  men  Esau  and  Jacob,  which 
brother  would  you  have  selected  as  the  more  certain  to  win 
true   success?     Justify  your  choice. 

5.  Do  you  think  that  a  man  wins  spiritual  victory  by  con- 
flict or  by  surrender? 

6.  It  has  been  said  that  forgiveness  is  Jesus'  most  striking 
innovation  in  morality.  What  would  you  say  to  this  state- 
ment, in  view  of  Joseph's  attitude  toward  his  brothers?  Do 
you  think  that  forgiveness  of  one's  enemies  is  consistent  with 
inflicting  penalties  upon  them? 

7.  Would  you  regard  the  lifelikeness  of  the  Joseph  stories 
as  evidence  of  the  skill  of  the  story-teller,  or  as  evidence  of 
the  historic  character  of  the  narrative? 

8.  What  contributions  to  the  religious  thinking  of  the  He- 
brews would  be  made  by  the  stories  of  Abraham,  Jacob,  and 
Joseph  ? 


72 


CHAPTER  III 

Freedom,  and  the  Foundations  of 
National  Life  and  Faith 

The  Work  of  Moses  in  Egypt  and  the 
Wilderness 

Introductory 

Fourth  Week,  First  Day. 

Read  Exodus   i   and  2  for  picture  of  the  environment  and 
early  life  of  Moses. 

In  the  centuries  following  the  death  of  Joseph,  the  Israel- 
ites in  Egypt  met  with  varying  fortunes,  and  were  subjected 
to  strange  influences. 

As  a  people  they  must  have  witnessed  the  career  of 
Thutmose  III,  1501-1447  B.  C,  "the  world's  first  great  empire- 
builder."  They  may  well  have  seen  those  two  obelisks,  which 
now  our  eyes  may  look  upon  in  Central  Park,  New  York, 
and  in  London,  both  commemorating  the  great  king's  fourth 
jubilee  celebration.  They  may  have  known  of  the  royal  vic- 
tories over  their  own  relatives  in  Palestine. 

Again,  the  tribal  religious  life  may  have  been  stirred  by 
the  activities  of  the  "heretic,"  Amenhotep  IV,  or  Ikhnaton 
(1375-1358  B.  C),  whom  the  historian  describes  as  "the  most 
remarkable  person  known  to  ancient  literature,  the  first  in- 
dividual in  human  history,"  This  extraordinary  king,  sur- 
rounded by  mighty  temples  to  national  deities,  "grasped  the 
idea  of  a  world-dominator,  as  the  creator  of  nature.  He 
based  the  universal  sway  of  God  upon  his  fatherly  care  of 

73 


[IV-i]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

all  men  alike,  irrespective  of  race  or  nationality."  He  built 
a  new  city  for  the  worship  of  his  universal  deity.  "He  was 
afterwards  known  as  the  criminal  of  Akhetaton.'"  Did  this 
royal  monotheist  influence  Hebrew  thought?    Apparently  not. 

In  1292  B.C.  Ramses  H  came  to  the  throne,  and  reigned 
till  1225  B.  C.  He  is  regarded  as  the  Pharaoh  of  the  Oppres- 
sion, a  king  who  indeed  "knew  not  Joseph."  He  was  a 
mighty  builder.  To  him  we  owe  much  of  the  glory  of  the 
temple  of  Karnak.  "He  who  stands  for  the  first  time  in 
the  shadow  of  its  overwhelming  colonnades,  the  great  hall 
of  the  temple,  that  forest  of  mighty  shafts,  the  largest  ever 
erected  by  human  hands,  crowned  by  the  swelling  capitals 
of  the  nave — on  each  one  of  which  a  hundred  men  may 
stand  together — he  who  observes  the  vast  sweep  of  the  aisles 
— roofed  with  hundred-ton  architraves — and  knows  that  its 
walls  would  contain  the  entire  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame, 
and  leave  plenty  of  room  to  spare  .  .  .  will  be  filled  with 
respect  for  the  age  that  produced  this,  the  largest  columned 
hall  ever  raised  by  men."* 

But  with  all  this  magnificence,  there  were  in  the  palace 
and  among  the  people  a  gross  materialism  and  superstition. 
An  officer,  "afflicted  by  his  deceased  wife,  wrote  to  her  a 
letter  of  remonstrance,  and  placed  it  in  the  hand  of  another 
dead  person,  that  it  might  be  duly  delivered  to  his  wife." 

Now  there  arose  a  new  king  over  Egypt,  who  knew 
not  Joseph.  And  he  said  unto  his  people.  Behold,  the 
people  of  the  children  of  Israel  are  more  and  mightier 
than  we :  come,  let  us  deal  wisely  with  them,  lest  they 
multiply,  and  it  come  to  pass,  that,  when  there  falleth 
out  any  war,  they  also  join  themselves  unto  our  ene- 
mies, and  fight  against  us,  and  get  them  up  out  of  the 
land.  Therefore  they  did  set  over  them  taskmasters  to 
afflict  them  with  their  burdens.  And  they  built  for 
Pharaoh  store-cities,  Pithom  and  Raamses.  But  the 
more  they  afflicted  them,  the  more  they  multiplied  and 
the  more  they  spread  abroad.     And  they  were  grieved 

»  Breasted.  "History  of  Egypt,"  p.  iSsS..    The  author's  high  estimate  of  the 
kin^i  is  not  fully  endorsed  by  all  writers. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  45off. 

74 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [IV-i] 

because  of  the  children  of  Israel.  And  the  Egyptians 
made  the  children  of  Israel  to  serve  with  rigor :  and 
they  made  their  lives  bitter  with  hard  service,  in  mortar 
and  in  brick,  and  in  all  manner  of  service  in  the  field, 
all  their  service,  wherein  they  made  them  serve  with 
rigor. — Exodus  i :  8-14. 

Along  with  the  materialism  and  superstition,  there  went 
an  almost  unexampled  cruelty.  The  building  enterprises  of 
Ramses  "were  not  achieved  without  vast  expense  of  resources, 
especially  those  of  labor."  In  Exodus  i:  11,  we  read  of  the 
children  of  Israel,  "They  built  for  Pharaoh  store-cities, 
Pithom  and  Raamses."  In  1883,  Naville  excavated  the  city 
of  Pithom,  Subsequent  investigators  have  observed  that 
"while  certain  entire  walls  showed  a  free  use  of  straw,  the 
bricks  of  other  adjacent  walls  were  mixed  with  coarse  sub- 
stances such  as  chafif,  rushes,  and  stems  of  plants,  and  other 
walls  of  adjacent  rooms  were  built  of  bricks  made  without 
mixture  of  straw,  stubble,  or  weed."  From  the  monuments 
we  learn  of  Palestinian  wars  carried  on  by  Ramses  II,  and 
it  would  not  be  strange  if  these  wars  led  the  monarch  to 
fear  the  multiplication  of  "enemy  aliens"  in  his  land,  who 
at  any  time  might  become  "alien  enemies."  His  underlings 
would  be  glad  enough  to  make  "their  lives  bitter  with  hard 
service,  in  mortar  and  in  brick,  and  in  all  manner  of  service 
in  the  field"  (Exodus  i  :  14). 

Out  of  this  welter  of  slave  life  a  child  was  lifted,  to 
grow  to  manhood  in  the  house  of  Pharaoh.  But  Moses, 
"when  he  was  grown  up,  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of 
Pharaoh's  daughter ;  choosing  rather  to  share  ill  treatment 
with  the  people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin 
for  a  season"   (Heb.  11:24,  25). 

Our  study  now  takes  us  from  the  palace  and  the  brick- 
kilns of  Egypt  out  into  the  wilderness,  with  its  freedom 
and  its  suffering.  It  has  been  said  that  "religion  alone  can 
turn  emigration  into  exodus."  It  was  Moses  whose  living 
faith  in  a  living  God  transformed  the  rather  contemptible 
emigration  of  slaves  into  an  exodus.  The  life  and  work  of 
Moses  must  now  chiefly  concern  us. 

75 


[IV-i]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE   OF  ISRAEL 

Read  again  the  familiar  story  of  the  childhood  of  Moses 
(Exodus  2:1-10),  then  consider: 

I.  MOSES,  THE  LIBERATOR 

Passages  from  Exodus  2:  11  to  15:  18. 

And  it  came  to  pass  in  those  days,  when  Moses  was 
grown  up,  that  he  went  out  unto  his  brethren,  and 
looked  on  their  burdens  :  and  he  saw  an  Egyptian  smit- 
ing a  Hebrew,  one  of  his  brethren.  And  he  looked  this 
way  and  that  way,  and  when  he  saw  that  there  was  no 
man,  he  smote  the  Egyptian,  and  hid  him  in  the  sand. 
And  he  went  out  the  second  day,  and,  behold,  two 
men  of  the  Hebrews  were  striving  together:  and  he  said 
to  him  that  did  the  wrong,  Wherefore  smitest  thou 
thy  fellow?  And  he  said,  Who  made  thee  a  prince  and 
a  judge  over  us?  thinkest  thou  to  kill  me,  as  thou 
killedst  the  Egyptian?  And  Moses  feared,  and  said. 
Surely  the  thing  is  known.  Now  when  Pharaoh  heard 
this  thing,  he  sought  to  slay  Moses.  But  Aloses  fled 
from  the  face  of  Pharaoh,  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of 
Midian:  and  he  sat  down  by  a  well. — Exodus  2:  11-15. 

I.  Abortive  Attempts 

Our  hero's  career  as  liberator  begins  with  his  rescue  of 
a  fellow-Hebrew  from  an  Egyptian.  The  vehement  young 
reformer  killed  the  oppressor.  The  day  after  this  untoward 
attack  upon  "things  as  they  are,"  this  John  Brown's  raid, 
Aloses  saw  two  Hebrews  quarreling.  The  would-be  peace- 
maker seemed  to  miss  the  peacemaker's  blessing.  "Thinkest 
thou  to  kill  me,  as  thou  killedst  the  Egyptian?"  There  are 
always  multitudes  of  men  who  are  eager  to  remind  the  young 
adventurer  in  brotherhood  that  he  must  mind  his  own  busi- 
ness ;  and  the  only  answer  is  that  wherever  there  are  brother 
men,  there  is  the  special  and  particular  business  of  the  lover 
of  men. 

Moses  saw  that  his  doing  to  death  of  the  Egyptian  was 
widely  known  and  would  be  widely  and  inconveniently  adver- 
tised.    He   sought   safety   in   flight.     Moses's   sojourn   in  the 

76 


NATIONAL  LIFE   AND   FAITH  [IV-2] 

land  of   Midian  was   an  epoch   in  his   Hfe.     The  wilderness 
gave  him  many  gifts,  among  them  these : 

a.  A  knowledge  of  the  "desert"  life,  which  would  serve 
him  well  in  later  days. 

b.  The  friendship  of  Jethro  (in  some  narratives  Hobab 
or  Reuel),  the  priest  "of  Jehovah,"  who  may  have  done 
much  to  shape  Moses's  thought  with  reference  to  the  laws 
and  worship  of  the  true  God. 

c.  Marriage,  which  seems  not  materially  to  have  lessened 
the  tragic  loneliness  of  the  man's  career. 

d.  A  profound  experience  of  Jehovah,  and  with  the  ex- 
perience, a  commission  from  Jehovah. 

Fourth  Week,  Second  Day. 

2.  The  Liberator  Commissioned 

Read  Exodus  3. 

And  the  angel  of  Jehovah  appeared  unto  him  in  a 
flame  of  fire  out  of  the  midst  of  a  bush :  and  he  looked, 
and,  behold,  the  bush  burned  with  fire,  and  the  bush 
was  not  consumed.  And  Moses  said,  I  will  turn  aside 
now,  and  see  this  great  sight,  why  the  bush  is  not 
burnt.  And  when  Jehovah  saw  that  he  turned  aside 
to  see,  God  called  unto  him  out  of  the  midst  of  the 
bush,  and  said,  Moses,  Moses.  And  he  said.  Here 
am  I.  And  he  said,  Draw  not  nigh  hither :  put  off  thy 
shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  whereon  ■  thou 
•  standest  is  holy  ground.  Moreover  he  said,  I  am  the 
God  of  thy  father,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of 
Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob.  And  Moses  hid  his  face ; 
for  he  was  afraid  to  look  upon  God.  And  Jehovah 
said,  I  have  surely  seen  the  affliction  of  my  people  that 
are  in  Egypt,  and  have  heard  their  cry  by  reason  of 
their  taskmasters ;  for  I  know  their  sorrows ;  and  I  am 
come  down  to  deliver  them  out  of  the  hand  of  the 
Egyptians,  and  to  bring  them  up  out  of  that  land  unto 
a  good  land  and  a  large,  unto  a  land  flowing  with 
milk  and  honey ;  unto  the  place  of  the  Canaanite.  and 
the  Hittite,  and  the  Amorite,  and  the  Perizzite,  and  the 
Hivite,  and  the  Jebusite. — Exodus  3  :  2-8. 

77 


[IV-2]    RELIGIOUS  EXFERIEXCE   OF  ISRAEL 

The  commission  received  by  the  shepherd  from  his  God 
seems  to  have  involved  these  elements : 

a.  You  are  to  be  a  Hberator,  rescuing  Israel  from  Egypt. 

b.  You  are  to  be  a  leader,  guiding  Israel  to  a  land  of  peace 
and  plenty. 

c.  You  are  to  be  a  lawgiver,  binding  Israel  to  Me  and 
to  my  laws. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  inquire  into  the  story  of  the  burning 
bush,  but  it  is  well  to  remember  Mrs.  Browning's  word: 

"Earth's  crammed  with  heaven, 
And  every  common  bush  afire  with  God; 
But  only  he  who  sees  takes  off  his  shoes, 
The  rest  sit  round  it  and  pluck  blackberries." 

And  Moses  said  unto  God,  Behold,  when  I  come  unto 
the  children  of  Israel,  and  shall  say  unto  them,  The 
God  of  your  fathers  hath  sent  me  unto  you ;  and  they 
shall  say  to  me,  What  is  his  name?  what  shall  I  say 
unto  them?  And  God  said  unto  Moses,  i  am  that  i 
AM  :  and  he  said.  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  I  am  hath  sent  me  unto  you.  And  God 
said  moreover  unto  Aloses,  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto 
the  children  of  Israel.  Jehovah,  the  God  of  your 
fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and 
the  God  of  Jacob,  hath  sent  me  unto  you :  this  is  my 
name  for  ever,  and  this  is  my  memorial  unto  all 
generations. — Exodus  3  :  13-15. 

The  name  Jehovah,^  or  Yahweh,  was  perhaps  not  unknown 
to  the  serfs  in  Egypt. 

In  Exodus  6 :  20,  we  read  that  the  mother  of  Moses  bore 
the   name,    "Jehovah    is    Glory."     When    Moses    returned    to 

3  "Yahweh,"  or  Jehovah  (v.  footnote,  p.  7)  was  possibh'-  the  name  of  the 
deity  of  the  Kenite  tribes  of  the  Sinaitic  peninsula.  The  origin  of  the  name 
is  unknown.  Some  would  tell  us  that  it  comes  from  a  word  meaning  "to 
blow":  thus  Jehovah  would  be  originally  the  god  of  the  tempest.  The  writer 
of  the  E.xodus  narrative  thinks  of  the  name  as  derived  from  the  word  "to  be," 
so  that  it  means  to  him  "the  God  who  is,"  or  "the  God  who  will  be."  To 
later  Israel,  the  name  came  to  bear  the  great  meaning,  "the  eternally  self- 
existent  One"  or  possibly,  "the  vmcreated  Creator,"  or  to  use  the  word  of 
the  Revelator,  the  One  "who  is  and  who  was  and  who  is  to  come." 
"Our  little  systems  have  their  day. 

They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be. 
They  are  but  broken  lights  of  thee, 
And  thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they." 

78 


NATIOXAL  LIFE  AXD  FAITH  [IV-2] 

Egypt  with  his  message  of  Hberation,  the  people  seemingly 
recognized  in  the  name,  Jehovah,  the  name  of  the  God  whom 
they  might  rightly  serve.  But  with  the  experience  of  in- 
sight and  vision  there  must  have  come  to  Moses,  as  to  many 
another  man  in  the  hour  of  loneliness  and  inspiration,  a  new 
appreciation  of  the  presence  and  purpose  of  the  God  whose 
old  name  was  now  to  gain  new  significance. 

Like  Jeremiah  and  other  prophet  souls  of  the  later  years, 
Moses  hesitated,  felt  himself  ill-equipped  to  undertake  the 
appointed  mission.  But  the  old  story  brings  its  encourage- 
ment to  every  man :  "I  did  not  choose  you  because  you  were 
eloquent.  I  knew  that  you  were  not  eloquent.  If  I  need  a 
man  of  eloquent  speech,  I  have  another  to  meet  the  need. 
What  is  that  in  your  hand?  The  rod,  the  symbol  and  the 
tool  of  the  shepherd's  trade,  shall  work  wonders  for  me." 

And  Aloses  said  unto  Jehovah.  Oh,  Lord,  I  am  not 
eloquent,  neither  heretofore,  nor  since  thou  hast  spoken 
unto  thy  servant ;  for  I  am  slow  of  speech,  and  of  a 
slow  tongue.  And  Jehovah  said  unto  him.  Who  hath 
made  man's  mouth?  or  who  maketh  a  man  dumb,  or 
deaf,  or  seeing,  or  blind?  is  it  not  I,  Jehovah?  Now 
therefore  go,  and  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth,  and  teach 
thee  what  thou  shalt  speak.  And  he  said.  Oh,  Lord, 
send,  I  pray  thee,  by  the  hand  of  him  whom  thou  wilt 
send.  And  the  anger  of  Jehovah  was  kindled  against 
Moses,  and  he  said.  Is  there  not  Aaron  thy  brother  the 
Levite?  I  know  that  he  can  speak  well.  And  also,  be- 
hold, he  Cometh  forth  to  meet  thee :  and  when  he  seeth 
thee,  he  will  be  glad  in  his  heart.  And  thou  shalt 
speak  unto  him.  and  put  the  words  in  his  mouth :  and 
I  will  be  with  thy  mouth,  and  with  his  mouth,  and  will 
teach  you  what  ye  shall  do.  And  he  shall  be  thy  spokes- 
man unto  the  people ;  and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that 
he  shall  be  to  thee  a  mouth,  and  thou  shalt  be  to  him 
as  God.  And  thou  shalt  take  in  thy  hand  this  rod, 
wherewith   thou  shalt  do   the   signs. — Exodus   4 :  10-17. 

If  a  man  knows  how  to  shoot  straight  with  a  small  stone 
from  the  brook,  he  may  kill  the  enemy  of  his  people.  If 
a  man  knows  how  to  use  well  an  engineer's  equipment,  he 

70 


[I\-3]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

may,  like  Alexander  Alackay,  open  to  the  Gospel  a  land  which 
shall  reveal  one  of  the  miracles  of  missions.  Yes,  if  a  man 
has  but  the  "gift  of  blindness,"  he  may  open  to  the  dark 
world  of  the  blind  in  China  the  light  of  literature. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  commission  of  Moses  makes  noth- 
ing of  Moses's  own  welfare,  safety,  or  salvation.  When 
Lincoln  was  urged  not  to  utter  the  first  great  words  of 
his  "House  Divided  Against  Itself"  speech  he  replied,  "I 
would  rather  be  defeated  with  this  expression  in  my  speech, 
and  uphold  and  discuss  it  before  the  people,  than  be  vic- 
torious without  it."  As  we  follow  Moses  into  his  subse- 
quent career,  we  find  him  with  a  like  conviction  that  he  must 
say  the  great  words  and  do  the  great  deeds,  whether  he 
himself  go  to  victory  or  death. 

Matthew  Arnold  queries : 

"What  bard. 

At  the  height  of  his  vision,  can  deem 
Of  God,  of  the  world,  of  thie  soul, 
With  a  plainness  as  near, 
As  flashing,  as  Moses  felt 
When  he  lay  in  the  night  by  his  flock 
On  the  starlit  Arabian  waste? 
Can  rise  and  obey 
The  beck  of  the  Spirit  like  him?" 

Thank  God,  on  the  fields  of  home  and  foreign  missions 
today,  and  on  the  fields  of  battle  there  are  men  who  "deem" 
as  plainly,  and  obey  as  gladly  as  did  Moses — the  world's 
true  bards  and  prophets. 

We  now  trace  the  Liberator  from  his  period  of  training 
in  the  wilderness  to  his  task  in  Egypt. 

Fourth  Week,  Third  Day. 

3.  Liberator  or  Enslaver? 

Read  Exodus  5,  with  its  valuable  hints  to  men  interested  in 
"the  uplift." 

Ramses  II,  the  builder,  boaster,  oppressor,  died,  "a  hoary 
80 


NATIONAL  LIFE   AND   FAITH  [IV-3] 

nonagenarian."  He  probably  would  have  been  more  modest 
if  he  had  realized  that  some  3,000  years  after  his  death  his 
mummy  would  be  seen  in  the  Cairo  Museum  by  Cook's 
tourists  from  a  land  beyond  his  ken  across  the  seas. 

The  old  king  was  succeeded,  we  read,  by  his  thirteenth 
son,  Merneptah  IV,  thought  to  be  the  "Pharaoh  of  the 
Exodus."  In  1223  B.  C,  there  was  widespread  revolt  against 
the  new  king  among  the  peoples  of  Palestine.  In  1896, 
there  was  discovered  at  Thebes  a  stele  on  which  is  inscribed 
Merneptah's  hymn  of  victory.  On  this  slab  occurs  the 
earliest  mention  of  the  name  "Israel"  to  be  found  in  any 
literature.  After  naming  peoples  and  kings  whom  he  has 
overthrown,  the  Pharaoh  says. 

"Israel  is  desolate,  his  seed  is  not ; 
Palestine  has  become  a  widow  for  Egypt."* 

The  stele  makes  it  clear  that  while  some  of  the  children  of 
Jacob  were  serfs  in  Egypt,  there  were  already  in  Palestine 
members  of  the  same  Semitic  tribes,  who  were  sufficiently 
unified  to  be  called  "Israel,"  and  sufficiently  powerful  to  i»e 
worthy  of  mention  as  conquered  by  the  Pharaoh.  But  the 
stele  also  makes  it  easier  for  us  to  understand  the  civic  con- 
fusion and  royal  anxiety  which  may  well  have  met  Moses  as 
he  returned  to  Egypt. 

And  afterward  ]\Ioses  and  Aaron  came,  and  said  unto 
Pharaoh,  Thus  saith  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  Let 
my  people  go,  that  they  may  hold  a  feast  unto  me  in 
the  wilderness.  And  Pharaoh  said,  Who  is  Jehovah, 
that  I  should  hearken  unto  his  voice  to  let  Israel  go? 
I  know  not  Jehovah,  and  moreover  I  will  not  let  Israel 
go.  And  they  said,  The  God  of  the  Hebrews  hath  met 
with  us:  let  us  go,  we  pray  thee,  three  days'  journey 
into  the  wilderness,  and  sacrifice  unto  Jehovah  our 
God,  lest  he  fall  upon  us  with  pestilence,  or  with  the 
sword.  And  the  king  of  Egypt  said  unto  them,  Where- 
fore do  ye,  Moses  and  Aaron,  loose  the  people  from 
their  works  ?  get  you  unto  your  burdens.    And  Pharaoh 


*  For  picture  and  translation  of  the  stele,  see  S.  A.  B.  Mercer,  "Extra-Biblical 
Sources  for  Hebrew  and  Jewish  History,"  pp.  88  and  133. 

81 


[I\-3J    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

said,  Behold,  the  people  of  the  land  are  now  many,  and 
ye  make  them  rest  from  their  burdens.  And  the  same 
day  Pharaoh  commanded  the  taskmasters  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  their  officers,  saying,  Ye  shall  no  more  give  the 
people  straw  to  make  brick,  as  heretofore :  let  them  go 
and  gather  straw  for  themselves.  And  the  number  of 
the  bricks,  which  they  did  make  heretofore,  ye  shall  lay 
upon  them ;  ye  shall  not  diminish  aught  thereof :  for 
they  are  idle;  therefore  they  cry,  saying,  Let  us  go 
and  sacrifice  to  our  God.  Let  heavier  work  be  laid 
upon  the  men,  that  they  may  labor  therein ;  and  let 
them  not  regard  lying  words. — Exodus  5:  1-9. 

Moses's  first  request  of  the  Pharaoh  was  that  he  should 
allow  the  Israelites  to  go  on  a  three  days'  journey  into  the 
wilderness  to  celebrate  a  racial  religious  feast'  Moses's  pur- 
pose at  this  juncture  seems  to  have  been  to  quicken  the 
national  self-consciousness  and  the  religious  loyalty  of  his 
people.  The  monarch's  answer  was  the  typical  answer  of 
the  tyrant:  "Who  is  Jehovah  that  I  should  obey  him?" 

In  the  presence  of  the  most  impressive  temples  and  ritual 
which  the  world  has  ever  known,  the  question  might  well 
have  seemed  to  Moses  a  hard  question  to  answer.  Who  in- 
deed was  this  deity  of  a  desert  tribe,  in  whose  name  a  man 
might  confront  the  Pharaoh  and  hope  to  win  from  him 
leisure  for  his  serfs  to  go  off  on  a  religious  junket  into  the 
wilderness? 

The  effect  of  Moses's  first  demand  suggests  one  of  the 
notable  features  of  much  reform  work.  Those  whom 
Moses  thought  to  help  were  scourged  to  more  bitter  bondage, 
and  they  refused  to  listen  to  him,  when  he  tried  to  show 
them  the  banner  of  their  liberty,  inscribed,  "God  and  the 
People."  Many  a  slave  has  thought  with  them  that  his  lot 
*^  would  have  been  far  easier  if  the  "liberator"  had  never 
spoken  of   freedom, 

4.  Liberty  in  Sight 
The  purpose  of  Moses  was  confirmed  and  expanded  by  a 


'  Cf.  discussion  of  Passover,  p.  85. 

82 


NATIOXAL  LIFE  AXD  FAITH  [IV-3] 

series  of  disasters  falling  upon  the  land  and  the  people  of 
Egypt,  disasters  so  terrible  and  so  terriblj^  timed  as  to  leave 
the  Pharaoh  and  Israel  in  no  doubt  that  they  were  due  to  the 
intrusion  of  Israel's  God.  From  these  unprecedented  calami- 
ties the  Hebrews  were  free,  because  of  their  situation  and 
their  manner  of  life." 

Read  rapidly  Exodus  6  to  12,  a  narrative  from  which,  in  the 
subsequent  days  of  national  anguish,  seers  and  singers 
should  gather  comfort  and  inspiration. 

And  it  came  to  pass  at  midnight,  that  Jehovah  smote 
all  the  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  from  the  first- 
born of  Pharaoh  that  sat  on  his  throne  unto  the  first- 
born of  the  captive  that  was  in  the  dungeon;  and  all 
the  first-born  of  cattle. — Exodus  12:29. 

The  death  of  the  first-born  children  of  Egypt  recalls  the 
horrors  of  the  Black  Death  which  swept  over  Europe  in 
1333-4  A.  D.  It  "seemed  not  only  to  the  frightened  imagina- 
tion of  the  people,  but  even  to  the  sober  observation  of  the 
few  men  of  science  of  the  time,  to  move  forward  with 
measured  steps  from  the  desolated  East  under  the  form  of 
a  dark  and  fetid  mist.  Hecker  estimates  the  loss  to  Europe 
as  amounting  to  25,000,000.  The  Black  Death  entered  Eng- 
land in  1348-9;  the  mortality  was  enormous.  Perhaps  from 
one  third  to  one  half  of  the  population  fell  victims  to  the 
disease."  From  the  Journal  of  the  Victorian  Institute  a 
writer  quotes :  "It  is  a  significant  fact  that  after  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  of  oppression,  hardship.  and«persecution,  of  the 
ghetto  and  the  old-clothes  trade,  the  Hebrew  race  is  pro- 
verbially   exempt    from    repulsive    and    contagious    disease. 

8  About  the  heroic  figure  of  Moses  many  stories  gathered.  The  later  stories, 
usually  attributed  to  the  Priestly  Writer,  idealize  Moses,  and  especially  the 
priestly  Aaron,  and  idealize  the  calamitous  events  which  cleared  the  way  for 
the  Exodus. 

Plagues  of  lice  and  flies,  of  boils  and  murrain,  of  frogs  and  locusts,  are  not 
isolated  phenomena  in  the  experience  of  Egypt.  The  plague  of  darkness 
may  be  a  reminiscence  of  a  "hamsin"  wind,  "an  oppressive  hot  blast,  charged 
with  so  much  sand  and  fine  dust  that  the  air  is  darkened."  Denon  says  that 
"It  sometimes  travels  as  a  narrow  stream,  so  that  one  part  of  the  land  is  light 
and  the  other  dark."  We  are  told,  too,  that  the  Nile  is  sometimes  reddened 
by  enormous  quantities  of  minute  organisms  or  "fragments  of  vegetable  matter." 

83 


[I\'-4]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

They  certainly  do  enjoy  immunity  from  the  ravages  of 
cholera,  fever,  and  smallpox  in  a  remarkable  degree.  Their 
blood  seems  to  be  in  a  different  condition  from  that  of  other 
people." 

The  history  of  Europe,  America,  and  now  of  the  Orient, 
is  all  bound  up  in  the  same  bundle  of  life  vi^ith  the  history 
of  the  Hebrew  serfs  in  Egypt.  The  immanent  God  who 
wrought  upon  the  mind  and  will  of  Moses  to  make  him  a 
coworker  with  "an  Eternal,  Creative  Good  Will,"  wrought 
through  "natural"  laws,  then  unknown,  in  a  fashion  which 
by  Egyptians  and  Hebrews  could  be  regarded  only  as  the 
sudden  and  direct  intrusion  of  a  divine  hand  into  the  world 
and  ways  of  men.  Men  used  to  journey  in  a  tunnel  into 
which  from  time  to  time,  as  by  miracle,  rays  of  heavenly 
sunlight  or  flashes  of  heavenly  lightning  entered.  Now  we 
travel  above  ground,  in  a  world  continually  illumined  by  the 
divine  radiance. 

Fourth  Week,  Fourth  Day, 

5.  The  Feast  of  Freedmen 

And  Jehovah  spake  unto  Moses  and  Aaron  in  the 
land  of  Egypt,  saying,  This  month  shall  be  unto  you 
the  beginning  of  months :  it  shall  be  the  first  month 
of  the  year  to  you.  Speak  ye  unto  all  the  congregation 
of  Israel,  saying,  In  the  tenth  day  of  this  month  they 
shall  take  to  them  every  man  a  lamb,  according  to 
their  fathers'  houses,  a  lamb  for  a  household  :  and  if 
the  household  be  too  little  for  a  lamb,  then  shall  he  and 
his  neighbor  next  unto  his  house  take  one  according 
to  the  number  of  the  souls;  according  to  every  man's 
eating  ye  shall  make  your  count  for  the  lamb.  Your 
lamb  shall  be  without  blemish,  a  male  a  year  old :  ye 
shall  take  it  from  the  sheep,  or  from  the  goats:  and 
ye  shall  keep  it  until  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  same 
month;  and  the  whole  assembly  of  the  congregation  of 
Israel  shall  kill  it  at  even.  And  they  shall  take  of  the 
blood,  and  put  it  on  the  two  side-posts  and  on  the 
lintel,  upon  the  houses  wherein  they  shall  eat  it.  And 
they  shall  eat  the  flesh  in  that  night,   roast  with   fire, 

84 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [IV-4] 

and  unleavened  bread ;  with  bitter  herbs  they  shall  eat 
it.  Eat  not  of  it  raw,  nor  boiled  at  all  with  water,  but 
roast  with  fire ;  its  head  with  its  legs  and  with  the 
inwards  thereof. — Exodus  12;  i-q. 

We  have  already  noticed  that  Moses's  first  demand  upon 
Pharaoh  was  that  his  people  might  take  a  three  days'  journey 
into  the  wilderness  to  worship  Jehovah.  In  connection  with 
the  last  plague,  there  is  the  record  of  the  feast  of  the  Pass- 
over, which  originally  may  have  been  identified  with  the 
feast  to  which  Moses  had  wished  to  summon  his  people, 
possibly  one  of  the  most  ancient  religious  festivals  of  the 
world.  "Four  or  five  thousand  years  ago  a  rude  nomad 
killed  the  first  lamb  (of  his  flock)  and  smeared  its  blood 
on  the  tent-poles,  that  no  angry  god  might  smite  him  with 
the  plague.  He  then  ate  the  flesh  with  the  family  as  a 
sacrificial  meal,  thanking  his  god,  who  was  supposed  to  be 
a  sharer  of  his  feast."  But  through  all  the  later  centuries, 
even  to  this  day,  the  feast,  developed,  glorified,  has  fittingly 
served  as  a  memorial  of  the  divine  rescue  of  Israel  from 
Egypt.  In  the  days  long  after  the  Exile  (586  B.  C),  we  find 
that  when  the  Passover  was  to  be  celebrated,  "bridges  were 
repaired,  sepulchers  wer-e  whitened,  so  that  they  might  be 
easily  seen  and  avoided,  that  passers-by  might  not  be  made 
unclean.  Fires  on  the  hill  tops  announced  that  the  Passover 
month  had  come."  To  this  day  on  Mount  Gerizim  a  few 
Samaritans,  survivors  of  those  of  Jesus'  day,  celebrate  the 
ancient  feast  with  sacrifice. 

In  her  "The  Promised  Land,"  Mary  Antin  tells  of  her 
experiences  as  a  little  Jewish  girl  in  Russia : 

"Another  thing  the  Gentiles  said  about  us  was  that  we 
used  the  blood  of  murdered  Christian  children  at  the  Pass- 
over festival.  Of  course  that  was  a  wicked. lie.  It  made  me 
sick  to  think  of  such  a  thing.  I  know  everything  that  was 
done  for  the  Passover  from  the  time  I  was  a  very  little  girl. 
The  house  was  made  clean  and  shining  and  holy,  even  in  the 
corners  where  nobody  ever  looked.  .  .  When  the  fresh  cur- 
tains were  put  up,  and  the  white  floors  were  uncovered,  and 
everybody  in  the  house  put  on  fresh  clothes,  and  I  sat  down 

85 


[IV-5]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

to  the  feast  in  my  new  dress,  I  felt  clean  inside  and  out.  And 
when  I  asked  the  four  questions  about  the  unleavened  bread 
and  the  bitter  herbs  and  the  other  things,  and  the  family 
reading  from  their  books  answered  me,  did  I  not  know 
all  about  the  Passover  and  what  was  on  the  table  and  why? 
The  Passover  season  when  we  celebrated  our  deliverance 
from  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  felt  so  glad  and  thankful,  as  if 
it  had  only  just  happened,  was  the  time  when  our  Gentile 
neighbors  chose  to  remind  us  that  Russia  was  another  Egypt." 

May  the  end  of  Czardom  give  to  Russian  Judaism  a  new 
birth  of  freedom  and  to  their  Passover  feast  a  new  environ- 
ment ! 

For  us  the  Passover  has  gained  a  precious  meaning.  At 
the  close  of  his  earthly  ministry,  the  Lord  Jesus  said,  "With 
desire  have  I  desired  to  eat  this  passover  with  you  before 
I  suffer"  (Luke  22:  15).  As  the  host  at  the  feast,  he  said, 
"This  is  my  body  which  is  given  for  you.  .  .  .  This  cup  is 
the  new  covenant  in  my  blood"  (Luke  22:  19,  20).  Paul, 
writing  to  the  Corinthians  about  the  time  of  the  Jewish  Pass- 
over, says :  "For  our  passover  also  hath  been  sacrificed,  even 
Christ :  wherefore  let  us  keep  the  feast,  not  with  old  leaven 
.  .  .  but  with  the  unleavened  bread  of  sincerity  and  truth" 
(I  Cor.  5:7).  When,  therefore,  we  partake  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  we  are  linking  ourselves  with  the  religious  life,  not 
alone  of  the  Hebrew  race,  but  with  the  upreaching  life  of  the 
early  nomads  of  the  Semitic  world,  who  through  the  thick 
darkness  of  superstitious  fear  were  feeling  for  the  truth  be- 
hind the  thought  that  without  suffering  there  is  no  redemp- 
tion. 

Fourth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

6.  The  Exodus 

(The  way  out) 

Read  Exodus  14,  15,  for  complete  story. 

And  the  Egyptians  pursued  after  them,  all  the  horses 
and  chariots  of  Pharaoh,  and  his  horsemen,  and  his 
army,  and  overtook  them  encamping  by  the  sea,  beside 
Pi-hahiroth,  before  Baal-zephon. 

86 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND   FAITH  [IV-5] 

And  when  Pharaoh  drew  nigh,  the  children  of  Israel 
lifted  up  their  eyes,  and,  behold,  the  Egyptians  were 
marching  after  them;  and  they  were  sore  afraid:  and 
the  children  of  Israel  cried  out  unto  Jehovah.  And 
they  said  unto  Moses,  Because  there  were  no  graves  in 
Egypt,  hast  thou  taken  us  away  to  die  in  the  wilderness? 
wherefore  hast  thou  dealt  thus  with  us,  to  bring  us 
forth  out  of  Egypt?  Is  not  this  the  word  that  we  spake 
unto  thee  in  Egypt,  saying,  Let  us  alone,  that  we  may 
serve  the  Egyptians  ?  For  it  were  better  for  us  to  serve 
the  Egyptians,  than  that  we  should  die  in  the  wilder- 
ness. And  Moses  said  unto  the  people.  Fear  ye  not, 
stand  still,  and  see  the  salvation  of  Jehovah,  which  he 
will  work  for  you  to-day :  for  the  Egyptians  whom  ye 
have  seen  to-day,  ye  shall  see  them  again  no  more  for 
ever.  .  .  . 

And  Moses  stretched  out  his  hand  over  the  sea;  and 
Jehovah  caused  the  sea  to  go  back  by  a  strong  east 
wind  all  the  night,  and  made  the  sea  dry  land,  and 
the  waters  were  divided. — Exodus  14:9-13,  21.     . 

Kent  describes  the  departure  from  Egypt  as  concisely  as 
possible : 

"Grievous  plagues  afflicted  the  Egyptians,  rendering  them 
for  the  time  incapable  of  checking  the  shepherds  in  their 
sudden  flight.  With  flocks  and  families,  therefore,  they  set 
out  under  the  leadership  of  Moses  for  Sinai,  the  abode  of 
their  God,  and  for  their  former  home  in  Canaan.  But  cir- 
cumstances led  them  to  turn  toward  the  south,  where  beside 
the  arm  of  the  Red  Sea  they  were  overtaken  by  the  Egyptian 
army  in  pursuit.  Their  cause  seemed  hopeless,  since  they 
could  do  little  to  defend  themselves  against  their  well-armed 
foes.  In  this  crisis  a  strong  east  wind  arose  which  blew 
all  night,  driving  back  the  shallow  waters,  so  that  it  was 
possible  for  them  to  pass  over  and  thus  escape,  while  the 
Egyptians  following  them  perished." 

The  deliverance  left  deep  its  mark  upon  the  memory  and 
the  literature  of  the  Hebrew  people.  The  psalmists  and 
the  prophets  alike  use  the  incident  as  the  measure  of  the 
mighty  redemptive  power  of  Jehovah,  ever  at  hand  to  save 
a  responsive  people.  Some  such  impression  of  divine  de- 
liverance   was    made    upon    the    people    of    England    by    the 

87 


[IV-0]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada.  Paul,  by  the  way,  found 
for  himself  a  new  measure  of  the  power  of  God.  Greater 
than  the  power  which  God  exerted  in  saving  his  people  from 
Egypt  was  the  power  which  God  exerted  when  he  raised 
Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  a  power  ever  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Christian  (Eph.  i:  19-23). 


II.  MOSES,  THE  LEADER 

Passages  from  Exodus,  Numbers,  Deuteronomy 

Fourth  Week,  Sixth  Day, 

Read  rapidly  Exodus  16,  17,  18,  characteristic  incidents  of  the 
Wanderings. 

It  is  said  that  the  route  taken  by  the  Israelites  into  the 
wilderness  was  not  that  taken  by  armies  on  their  way  to 
or  from  Egypt,  but  rather  the  path  of  runaway  slaves. 

Of  many  incidents  which  have  found  their  way  into  the 
hymnology  and  indeed  all  the  literature  of  the  Christian 
world  we  may  not  speak.  The  earlier  documents  tend  to 
hold  to  the  bald  facts  of  the  journey.  The  later  idealize 
much.  The  writers  living  in  the  memory  of  the  ruined  temple 
of  Solomon  and  of  the  Exile,  were  inclined  to  emphasize 
wherever  possible  the  divine  intrusion  into  the  common 
events  of  the  wanderings. 

I.  The  Challenged  Leadership 

One  of  the  striking  elements  of  the  story  is  the  murmuring 
of  the  people  against  Moses.  Moses  was  a  great  "labor 
leader"  as  well  as  religious  leader.  And  he  was  despised  and 
hated  often  by  the  men  for  whom  he  willingly  would  have 
died.  Amid  the  trials  of  the  wilderness,  the  bricks  made 
without  straw  and  the  lash  of  the  taskmaster  were  forgotten, 
and  the  leeks  and  onions  and  garlic  of  Egypt  sent  their 
appetizing  odors  across  the  Red  Sea  into  their  very  nostrils. 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [IV-6] 

The  murmuring  more  than  once  became  mutiny.  One  is  re- 
minded of  Lincoln,  who  was  called  by  one  party  "nigger, 
nigger-lover" ;  by  the  other  party,  "the  slave-hound  of  Il- 
linois." A  cartoon  of  the  dark  days  of  the  Civil  War  repre- 
sents Lincoln  as  enthroned  upon  the  bayonets  of  his  in- 
furiated soldiers. 

Both  men  learned  what  we  "Western  Goths"  may  all 

"Find  out,  some  day :  that  nothing  pays  but  God, 
Served  whether  on  the  smoke-shut  battle-field, 
In  work  obscure  done  honestly,  or  vote 
For  truth  unpopular,  or  faith  maintained 
To  ruinous  convictions,  or  good  deeds 
Wrought    for   good's   sake,   mindless   of   heaven   or  hell." 

2.  The  Leader  and  His  Aides 

And  Moses'  father-in-law  said  unto  him.  The  thing 
that  thou  doest  is  not  good.  Thou  wilt  surely  wear 
away,  both  thou,  and  this  people  that  is  with  thee :  for 
the  thing  is  too  heavy  for  thee ;  thou  art  not  able  to 
perform  it  thyself  alone.  Hearken  now  unto  my  voice, 
I  will  give  thee  counsel,  and  God  be  with  thee :  be 
thou  for  the  people  to  Godward,  and  bring  thou  the 
causes  unto  God :  and  thou  shalt  teach  them  the  statutes 
and  the  laws,  and  shalt  show  them  the  way  wherein 
they  must  walk,  and  the  work  that  they  must  do.  More- 
over thou  shalt  provide  out  of  all  the  people  able 
men,  such  as  fear  God,  men  of  truth,  hating  unjust 
gain ;  and  place  such  over  them,  to  be  rulers  of  thou- 
sands, rulers  of  hundreds,  rulers  of  fifties,  and  rulers 
of  tens:  and  let  them  judge  the  people  at  all  seasons: 
and  it  shall  be,  that  every  great  matter  they  shall  bring 
unto  thee,  but  every  small  matter  they  shall  judge 
themselves :  so  shall  it  be  easier  for  thyself,  and  they 
shall  bear  the  burden  with  thee.  If  thou  shalt  do  this 
thing,  and  God  command  thee  so,  then  thou  shalt  be 
able  to  endure,  and  all  this  people  also  shall  go  to  their 
place  in  peace.  So  Moses  hearkened  to  the  voice  of 
his  father-in-law,  and  did  all  that  he  had  said. — Exodus 
1 8 :  17-24. 

A  notable  incident  of  the  journey  is  the  visit  of  Jethro  to 
the  camp  of  Israel.     He  suggested  a  division  of  labor,  which 

89 


[IV -7]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE   OF  ISRAEL 

should  relieve  Moses  of  the  wear  and  tear  of  exclusive 
responsibility.  If  we  could  today  select  our  public  officials 
on  the  basis  of  Jethro's  suggestion,  most  of  our  political 
troubles  would  pass  away  like  mist  before  the  morning  sun. 

"It  is  supposed  that  Alfred  the  Great,  who  was  well  versed 
in  the  Bible,  based  his  own  Saxon  constitution  of  sheriffs, 
counties,  etc.,  on  the  example  of  the  Mosaic  division,  and 
thus  it  may  be  that  the  English  nation  owes  something  of 
its  free  institutions  to  the  generous  interest  of  an  Arabian 
priest." 

Perhaps  in  the  story  of  the  Seventy  Elders  (Num.  ii:  ii- 
29),  we  have  an  alternative  narrative  to  that  in  Exodus  18. 
The  record  is  delightful.  Moses  found  too  heavy  the  burden 
laid  upon  him.  But  God  lays  on  no  man  a  burden  heavier 
than  he  can  bear.  He  bade  Moses  select  seventy  men,  good 
men  and  true,  to  bear  the  burden  of  the  people  with  him. 
Two  of  the  men  chosen  did  not  appear  at  the  Tent  of  Meet- 
ing but  began  to  prophesy,  to  speak  for  God,  right  in  the 
midst  of  the  camp.  Joshua,  who  was  one  day  to  know  better, 
rushed  breathless  to  Moses :  "Eldad  and  Medad  do  prophesy 
in  the  camp.  .  .  .  My  lord  Moses,  forbid  them."  How  fine 
is  Moses's  answer:  "Art  thou  jealous  for  my  sake?  would 
that  all  Jehovah's  people  were  prophets !"  No  more  murmur- 
ing, no  more  backsliding,  no  more  defeats,  nay,  rather, 
tremendous  impact  upon  the  heathen  tribes  about !  All 
Jehovah's  people  speakers  for  God !  A  prayer  to  be  fulfilled 
when  God's  Spirit  shall  rest  upon  them,  a. condition  to  be 
fulfilled  when  God's  people  obey  God.  God  giveth  his  Holy 
Spirit  to  them  that  obey  him. 

Fourth  Week,  Seventh  Day, 

3.  The  Leader's  Committee  of  Investigation 

Read  Num.  13  for  context. 

And  they  returned  from  spying  out  the  land  at  the 
end  of  forty  days.    And  they  went  and  came  to  Moses, 

90 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [IN -7] 

and  to  Aaron,  and  to  all  the  congregation  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  unto  the  wilderness  of  Paran,  to 
Kadesh ;  and  brought  back  word  unto  them,  and  unto 
all  the  congregation,  and  showed  them  the  fruit  of  the 
land.  And  they  told  him,  and  said,  We  came  unto  the 
land  whither  thou  sentest  us ;  and  surely  it  floweth  with 
milk  and  honey ;  and  this  is  the  fruit  of  it.  Howbeit 
the  people  that  dwell  in  the  land  are  strong,  and  the 
cities  are  fortified,  and  very  great :  and  moreover  we 
saw  the  children  of  Anak  there.  Amalek  dwelleth  in 
the  land  of  the  South  :  and  the  Hittite,  and  the  Jebusite, 
and  the  Amorite,  dwell  in  the  hill-country ;  and  the 
Canaanite  dwelleth  by  the  sea,  and  along  by  the  side  of 
the  Jordan. 

And^Caleb  stilled  the  people  before  Moses,  and  said. 
Let  us  go  up  at  once,  and  possess  it;  for  we  are  well 
able  to  overcome  it.  But  the  men  that  went  up  with  him 
said.  We  are  not  able  to  go  up  against  the  people; 
for  they  are  stronger  than  we.  And  they  brought  up  an 
evil  report  of  the  land  which  they  had  spied  out  unto 
the  children  of  Israel,  saying,  The  land,  through  which 
we  have  gone  to  spy  it  out,  is  a  land  that  eateth  up 
the  inhabitants  thereof ;  and  all  the  people  that  we  saw 
in  it  are  men  of  great  stature.  And  there  we  saw  the 
Nephilim,  the  sons  of  Anak,  who  come  of  the  Nephilim : 
and  we  were  in  our  own  sight  as  grasshoppers,  and 
so  we  were  in  their  sight. — Num.  13 :  25-33. 

Passing  for  a  moment  the  incidents  occurring  at  Sinai, 
we  note  the  story  of  the  spies.  The  men  who  return  from 
Canaan  with  their  evil  report  are  the  typical  stand-patters 
of  the  world.  Progress  is  desirable,  obstacles  are  insuperable. 
Well  may  the  writer  of  the  Hebrews  in  the  later  days  bid 
his  Christian  friends  take  heed,  lest  they,  too,  fail  to  enter 
into  the  land  of  rest,  because  of  unbelief  (Heb.  3:1-10). 
Humanity  moves  onward  under  the  impulsion  of  high-souled 
men  like  Caleb,  men  who  do  not  ignore  the  difficulties,  who 
do  not  give  their  brains  an  anesthetic  and  tell  us  there  are 
no  giants  to  overcome,  but  who  bid  us  "go  up  at  once,"  for 
God  is  with  us. 

"  'Dreamer  of  dreams!'  We  take  the  taunt  with  gladness, 
Knowing  that  God,  beyond  the  years  you  see 

91 


[IV-7]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Hath  wrought  the  dreams  which  count  with  you  for  madnes? 
Into  the  substance  of  the  life  to  be." 

4.  The  Leader,  and  the  Men  Who  Thought  They 
Had  "Arrived" 

Now  the  children  of  Reuben  and  the  children  of  Gad 
had  a  very  great  multitude  of  cattle:  and  when  they 
saw  the  land  of  Jazer,  and  the  land  of  Gilead,  that, 
behold,  the  place  was  a  place  for  cattle;  the  children 
of  Gad  and  the  children  of  Reuben  came  and  spake 
unto  Moses,  and  to  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  unto  the 
princes  of  the  congregation,  saying,  Ataroth,  and  Dibon, 
and  Jazer,  and  Nimrah,  and  Heshbon,  and  J^lealeh, 
and  Sebam,  and  Xebo,  and  Beon,  the  land  which  Je- 
hovah smote  before  the  congregation  of  Israel,  is  a 
land  for  cattle ;  and  thy  servants  have  cattle.  And  they 
said.  If  we  have  found  favor  in  thy  sight,  let  this  land 
be  given  unto  thy  servants  for  a  possession;  bring  us 
not  over  the  Jordan. 

And  Moses  said  unto  the  children  of  Gad  and  to  the 
children  of  Reuben,  Shall  your  brethren  go  to  the  war, 
and  shall  ye  sit  here?  And  wherefore  discourage  ye 
the  heart  of  the  children  of  Israel  from  going  over 
into  tlT£  land  which  Jehovah  hath  given  them?  .  .  , 

And  they  came  near  unto  him,  and  said.  We  will  build 
sheepfolds  here  for  our  cattle,  and  cities  for  our  little 
ones :  but  we  ourselves  will  be  ready  armed  to  go  before 
the  children  of  Israel,  until  we  have  brought  them  unto 
their  place :  and  our  little  ones  shall  dwell  in  the  forti- 
fied cities  because  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  land.  We 
will  not  return  unto  our  houses,  until  the  children  of 
Israel  have  inherited  every  m^an  his  inheritance.  For 
we  will  not  inherit  with  them  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Jordan,  and  forward ;  because  our  inheritance  is  fallen 
to  us  on  this  side  of  the  Jordan  eastward. 

And  Moses  said  unto  them,  If  ye  will  do  this  thing, 
if  ye  will  arm  yourselves  to  go  before  Jehovah  to  the 
war,  and  every  armed  man  of  you  will  pass  over  the 
Jordan  before  Jehovah,  until  he  hath  driven  out  his  ^ 
enemies  from  before  him,  and  the  land  is  subdued  be- 
fore Jehovah ;  then  afterward  ye  shall  return,  and  be 
guiltless  towards  Jehovah,  and  towards  Israel ;  and  this 
land  shall  be  unto  you  for  a  possession  before  Jehovah. 
But  if  ye  will  not  do  so,  behold,  ye  have  sinned  against 

92 


NATIONAL   LIFE   AND   FAITH  [IV-7] 

Jehovah ;   and   be    sure   your   sin   will    find   you   out. — 
Num.  32 :  1-7,  16-23. 

The  tribes — Reuben,  Gad,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh — 
had  found  fine  pasture  lands  for  their  flocks  and  herds,  and 
they  thought  it  would  be  a  beautiful  thing  to  remain  on  the 
east  side  of  Jordan,  while  their  friends  and  comrades  were 
doing  the  fighting  for  the  promised  land.  What  was  the  use 
of  struggling,  when  they  could  get  all  they  wanted  without 
the  struggle?  Moses  has  been  designated  as  the  meekest 
man  who  ever  lived,  but  he  let  loose  the  vials  of  his  wrath 
upon  these  tribesmen  because  they  were  weakening  the  hands 
of  their  brothers.  Finally  an  agreement  was -reached.  The 
men  would  build  folds  for  their  flocks,  and  fenced  cities 
for  their  wives  and  little  ones,  and  they  themselves  would 
go  ready  armed  before  the  Children  of  Israel,  and  would  not 
return  to  their  houses  until  every  man  should  have  received 
his  inheritance.  The  tribesmen  were  true  to  their  promise, 
and  after  the  death  of  Moses  marched  in  the  vanguard  to 
win  for  their  brothers  the  same  rights  which  were  theirs. 
And  it  may  be  that  the  day  will  come  to  America,  when  we 
shall  retain  our  possessions  only  on  condition  that  we  give 
ourselves  whole-heartedly  and  persistently  to  the  great  fight 
of  our  brothers  for  "a  fair  chance  at  all  good  things." 

The  incidents  of  the  wilderness  have  stirred  the  imagina- 
tion of  seers  in  all  the  later  years.  The  stories  of  the  brazen 
serpent,  of  Balaam,  of  Og  and  his  mighty  bedstead,  of 
Amalek  and  the  upheld  arms  of  Moses — these  and  scores  of 
others  make  the  wilderness  a  paradise  for  poets  and  preachers. 
Generations  of  religious  men  have  thought  of  their  earthly 
experiences  in  terms  of  the  wandering. 

"  'Forward  !'  be  our  watchword, 
Steps  and  voices  joined; 
Seek  the  things  before  us, 
Not  a  look  behind; 

93 


[IV-7]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE   OF  ISRAEL 

Burns  the  fiery  pillar 

At  our  army's  head; 
Who  shall  dream  of  shrinking, 

By  Jehovah  led? 
Forward  through  the  desert, 

Through  the  toil  and  fight; 
Jordan  flows  before  us, 

Zion  beams  with  light." 

The  Israelites  left  Egypt,  a  horde  of  slaves.  Their  feeble 
unity  was  due  mainly  to  their  common  dependence  upon 
Aloses,  their  liberator  and  leader.  Their  religion  was  but 
the  pale  reflection  of  his  burning  faith  in  Jehovah.^  In  the 
years  of  wandering,  there  were  times  when  the  gate  to  the 
land  of  promise  seemed  wide  open.  Kadesh-Barnea,  the 
present  Ain  Kadis,  or  Holy  Well,  was  the  rendezvous  of  the 
Hebrews.  A  traveler,  who  was  guided  by  Arabs  to  the  place, 
"found  a  lofty  wall  of  limestone,  at  the  base  of  which  issued 
forth  a  copious  spring  or  several  springs,  which  emptied  them- 
selves into  a  large  artificially  constructed  basin,  then  into 
another  of  smaller  «ize,  and,  continuing  to  flow  down  into 
the  valley,  spread  fertility  on  either  hand  until  the  waters 
ultimately  disappeared  beneath  the  sands  of  the  desert.  For 
a  generation  this  fertile  spot  was  the  goal  or  the  starting  point 
of  the  wanderings  of  nomad  Israel."  In  our  own  time,  in 
the  Great  War,  there  was  a  day  when  an  added  ounce  of 
pressure  might  have  forced  open  the  Dardanelles,  and  brought 
the  War  appreciably  nearer  its  close.  But  as  years  of  agony 
were  needed  to  strengthen  the  cause  of  the  Entente  forces, 
to  purify  their  ideals,  and  to  weld  them  into  one  army  of 
democracy ;  so  were  the  years  of  wilderness  wandering  need- 
ful to  strengthen,  purify,  ennoble  the  conduct  and  ideals  of 
the  clansmen  of  Israel.  In  the  wilderness,  they  learned  to 
think  of  themselves  as  a  people  with  a  common  destiny,  bound 
up  with  the  will  of  their  national  God,  Jehovah. 

7  "The  monotheism  of  Babylonia  and  Egypt  was  pantheistic  speculation. 
Hebrew  monotheism  was  a  religious  experience,  and  between  these  two  there 
appears  to  me  to  be  a  great  gulf  fixed.  ...  I  believe  that  monotheistic  tendencies 
in  the  age  of  Moses,  supposing  them  to  have  reached  him,  can  have  contributed 
very  little  to  his  knowledge  of  God." — Skinner. 

94 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [V-i] 

III.  MOSES,  THE  LEGISLATOR 

Passages   from   Exodus,   Leviticus,   Numbers,   Deuteronomy 

Fifth  Week,  First  Day. 

Read  Exodus  20:2-17;  compare  Deut.  5:6-21  for  final  ver- 
sions of  the  Ten  Commandments. 

Throughout  their  recorded  history,  the  Children  of  Israel 
looked  back  to  Moses,  not  alone  as  Liberator  and  Leader,  but 
as  Lawgiver.  Sinai  (or  Horeb)  was  considered  the  earliest 
seat  of  Israel's  deity,  the  worthy  scene  of  the  great  transac- 
tion by  which  the  divine  law  was  given  to  Moses,  and 
through  Moses  to  the  people. 

As  we  now  have  them,  the  "Mosaic"  laws  are  of  many 
different  ages.  Some  of  the  laws  reflect  the  life  of  an 
agricultural  people;  some  are  directed  to  the  needs  of  a  peo- 
ple ruled  by  kings,  to  the  needs  of  priests  serving  in  a  cen- 
tral temple  in  Jerusalem.  Some  express  the  interests  of 
political  and  ecclesiastical  leaders  after  the  Exile,  whose  only 
desire  was  to  preserve  a  people  holy  unto  Jehovah.  Much 
of  the  legislation  is  attributed  to  Moses,  and  is  well  styled 
the  Law  of  Moses.  It  is  his,  or  is  the  varied  fruitage  of 
principles  enunciated  by  him. 

I.  The  Decalogue 

(The  Ten  Words) 

There  are  two  main  versions*  of  the  Ten  Commandments, 
both  of  which  developed  from  a  briefer  code,  very  noble  in 
its  conception  of  duty  toward  God  and  man.  This  simpler 
code"  may  have  read  somewhat  as  follows : 

(i.)  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  beside  me. 
(2.)   Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image. 
(3.)   Thou   shalt   not  take   the   name   of   Jehovah  thy   God 
in  vain. 


8  For  reference  to  third  variant  decalogue,  recently  discovered,  see  Bade, 
"The  Old  Testament  in  the  Light  of  Today,"  p.  94- 
»  For  a  still  earlier  "decalogue,"  see  discussion,  p.  loi. 

95 


[V-i]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF   ISRAEL 

(4.)  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  hallow  it. 

(5.)  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother. 

(6.)  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder. 

(7.)  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery. 

(8.)  Thou  shalt  not  steal. 

(9.)  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor. 

(10.)   Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  house. 


The  first  five  commands  deal  with  religion,  "piety."  The 
second  five  deal  with  ethics,  "probity." 

The  first  command  does  not  imply  the  denial  of  other  gods 
than  Jehovah.  For  at  least  five  centuries  Israel  popularly 
regarded  the  gods  of  other  peoples  as  alive  and  sovereign 
in  their  territories.  The  command  does  insist  that  Israel 
shall  worship  Jehovah  only.  They  are  his  people,  he  is 
their  God. 

The  second  command  would  lift  the  people  above  idolatry. 
For  hundreds  of  years  in  Canaan  Israel  was  to  use  "without 
offense"  images  in  worship.  That  is,  this  command  was  un- 
known or  ignored.  But  we  shall  see  how  image  worship 
cheapened  and  degraded  religion  among  the  Hebrews  (p. 
I58ff). 

The  third  command  may  have  been  intended  originally  to 
forbid  the  use  of  the  sacred  name  in  formulas  of  magic, 
such  as  constituted  a  great  part  of  the  ritual  of  Egypt  and 
Babylonia.^"  To  us  the  command  brings  an  exigent  prohi- 
bition of  profanity  and  irreverence.  In  many  cases,  profanity 
is  undoubtedly  a  skin  disease  rather  than  a  cancer  eating  at 
the  heart.  But  it  would  be  abhorrent  for  any  man  to  drag 
his  mother's  name  into  the  ordinary  loathsome  camp  pro- 
fanity. Alay  one  deal  more  loosely  with  the  name  of  his 
God?  It  used  to  be  said  of  the  Italians,  that  they  ate  their 
bread  and  cheese  on  the  high  altar.  It  has  been  said  that 
the  practice  in  the  United  States  is  to  turn  all  sacred  things 
into  a  joke. 


'0  For  a  diflferent  interpretation,  cf.  Bade,  "  The  Old  Testament  in  the  Light 
of  Today,"  p.  loi. 

96 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [V-2] 

Fifth  Week,  Second  Day. 

The  fifth  and  seventh  commandments  aim  to  preserve  the 
integrity  of  the  family  life  and  line.  It  is  probable  that  both 
commandments  were  directed  to  adult  males."  Children  who 
could  be  sold  into  slavery  or  killed  for  drunkenness  and 
gluttony  (Deut.  21:18-21),  probably  did  not  need  the  fifth 
commandment.  The  seventh  imposed  an  obligation  upon  the 
husband,  such  as  had  always  been  borne  by  the  wife. 

The  Old  Testament  offers  no  remedy  for  the  infinite 
tragedies  of  polygamy.  Women  who  hold  lightly  the  bless- 
ings of  Christianity  may  well  recall  the  scriptural  incidents 
of  favoritism,  jealousy,  and  folly,  due  to  the  system,  and 
may  well  remember  the  words  of  the  traveler,  Mrs.  Isabella 
Bird  Bishop :  "In  some  countries  I  have  seldom  been  in  a 
woman's  house  or  near  a  woman's  tent  without  being  asked 
for  a  drug  with  which  to  disfigure  the  face  of  the  favorite 
wife  or  to  poison  the  favorite  wife's  infant  son.  This  request 
has  been  made  of  me  not  less  than  two  hundred  times."  The 
home  "holds  the  key  to  the  salvation  of  the  state."  Presi- 
dent Eliot  entitles  one  of  his  essays,  "The  Forgotten  Mil- 
lions." He  reminds  us  that  as  we  talk  of  Fifth  Avenue  and 
the  "slums,"  we  are  forgetting  the  millions  of  people  in  this 
country  who  live  comfortable,  unostentatious,  decent  lives, 
love  their  families,  work  for  the  common  good.  These  are 
the  people  who  ensure  the  stability  of  the  Republic.  Chris- 
tianity has  put  new  meaning  into  the  old  commandment. 

The  ninth  commandment  insists  upon  the  honor  of  the  lips. 
It  has  been  noted  that  the  punishment  for  false  witness  in 
Babylonian  and  Hebrew  codes  was  the  same  punishment  as 
would  have  been  meted  out  to  a  man  really  guilty  of  the 
crime  charged.  Pope  suggests  how  we  today  disobey  the 
ancient  command : 

"Damn  with   faint  praise,  assent  with  civil   leer, 
And  without  sneering  teach  the  rest  to  sneer; 
Willing  to  wound,  and  yet  afraid  to  strike, 
Just  hint  a  fault,  and  hesitate  dislike." 


"  Ibid.,  pp.  Ill  and  ii8ff. 

97 


[V-2J     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

But  "disobedience  to  this  command  brought  Jesus  to  the 
cross." 

The  tenth  commandment  approaches  apparently  the  lofty- 
morals  of  the.  New  Testament,  and  insists  upon  the  honor 
of  the  heart.'"  Many  of  our  own  social  customs  make  this 
last  commandment  hard  to  obey.  The  street  cleaner  who 
dodges  in  and  out  among  the  limousines,  the  little  girls  whose 
wan  faces  peer  through  the  windows  of  department  stores 
at  the  amazing  array  of  lingerie — these  and  others  our  civili- 
zation tends  to  make  the  victims  of  "moral  overstrain." 

The  Ten  Commandments,  becoming  ever  more  influential 
in  the  life  of  later  Israel,  did  much  to  quicken  the  people's 
reverence  for  Jehovah  and  their  sense  of  obligation,  not 
to  all  their  brother  men  indeed,  but  to  their  brother  Hebrews. 
We  miss  the  positive  note  of  Jesus.  Alen  do  not  win 
salvation  by  negations.  We  miss,  too,  any  message  of  joy- 
ous and  aggressive  love  for  all  men  everywhere.  But  it  is 
a  striking  tribute  to  these  early  laws  that  only  one  of  them, 
the  fourth,  has  been  abrogated,  even  in  outward  form,  by 
the  increasing  revelation  of  God's  will. 

The  Sabbath  law  is  worthy  of  special  study  at  this  point. 
Professor  Jastrow  has  reminded  us'^  that  in  Babylon  the 
fifteenth  day  of  the  month  bore  the  name  shabattum.  In  a 
cuneiform  text  we  have  the  equation,  "Day  of  rest  of  the 
heart  =  shabattum."  Among  superstitious  people  days  of 
transition  have  always  been  days  of  uncertainty  and  fear. 
The  day,  then,  when  the  moon  had  completed  its  growth  was 
a  specially  anxious  time.  "The  day  of  rest  of  the  heart  was 
simply  a  technical  term  for  a  day  of  pacification  .  .  .  one  on 
which  it  was  hoped  that  the  angered  deity  would  cease  from 
manifesting  his  displeasure."  It  appears  also  that  the  days 
of  the  moon's  quarters  were  counted  in  ancient  Babylonia 
as  of  special  religious  significance.  There  is  a  "link"  uniting 
the  Babylonian  and  early  Hebrew  Sabbaths.  Gradually  the 
Hebrew  Sabbath  broke   from  its  connection  with  the  phases 

"But  cf.  Bad6,  "The  Old  Testament  in  the  Light  of  Today,"  p.  128. 
"  Morris  Jastrow,  "Hebrew  and  Babylonian  Traditions,"  p.  134S. 

98 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [V-2] 

of  the  moon,  and  occurred  every  seventh  day.  In  the  earHer 
times  the  Hebrew  Sabbath  was  a  day  of  festal  joy,  perhaps 
not  unmixed  with  fear.  The  rest  from  work  was  incidental. 
The  priestly  narrator  of  the  creation  story  delights  in  the 
thought  that  God  rested  on  the  seventh  day. 

And  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished,  and 
all  the  host  of  them.  And  on  the  seventh  day  God 
finished  his  "work  which  he  had  made;  and  he  rested 
on  the  seventh  day  from  all  his  work  which  he  had 
made.  And  God  blessed  the  seventh  day,  and  hallowed 
it ;  because  that  in  it  he  rested  from  all  his  work  which 
God  had  created  and  made. — Gen.  2 :  1-3. 

He  would  seek  to  ensure  the  rest  element  of  Sabbath  ob- 
servance by  suggesting  the  origin  of  the  Sabbath  in  the  rest  of 
the  toiling  God.  But  how  transfiguring  is  the  change  which 
has  been  wrought  in  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath — no  longer 
a  day  when  easily  angered  gods  may  be  wisely  implored  to 
pacify  and  to  rest  their  hearts,  but  a  day  when  man  may 
rest  from  his  toil,  in  the  memory  of  the  God  who  rested 
from  his  labors  of  creative  love  for  his  world. 

Remember  the  sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy.  Six  days 
shalt  thou  labor,  and  do  all  thy  work;  but  the  seventh 
day  is  a  sabbath  unto  Jehovah  thy  God :  in  it  thou  shalt 
not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter, 
thy  man-servant,  nor  thy  maid-servant,  nor  thy  cattle, 
nor  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates :  for  in  six 
days  Jehovah  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all 
that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the  seventh  day :  where- 
fore Jehovah  blessed  the  sabbath  day,  and  hallowed  it. 
— Exodus  20:  8-1 1. 

In  the  Deuteronomic  variant  of  the  fourth  commandment 
we  have  a  further  enrichment  of  the  meaning  of  the  Sabbath 
law.  Here  the  Sabbath  is  a  day  of  grateful  remembrance 
and  refreshment,  not  only  for  the  Hebrew  freeman  himself, 
but  for  the  man-servant  and  the  maid-servant  as  well.  The 
Sabbath,  then,  is  God's  gift  of  love  to  the  tired,  and  extends 
its  benediction  even  to  the  beasts  who  toil  for  man.* 

99 


[V-2]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

Observe  the  sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy,  as  Jehovah 
thy  God  commanded  thee.  Six  days  shalt  thou  labor, 
and  do  all  thy  work ;  but  the  seventh  day  is  a  sabbath 
unto  Jehovah  thy  God:  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any 
work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  nor  thy  man- 
servant, nor  thy  maid-servant,  nor  thine  ox,  nor  thine 
ass,  nor  any  of  thy  cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that  is 
within  thy  gates ;  that  thy  man-servant  and  thy  maid- 
servant may  rest  as  well  as  thou.  And  thou  shalt  re- 
member that  thou  wast  a  servant  in  the  land  of  Egypt, 
and  Jehovah  thy  God  brought  thee  out  thence  by  a 
mighty  hand  and  by  an  outstretched  arm :  therefore 
Jehovah  thy  God  commanded  thee  to  keep  the  sabbath 
day. — Deut.  5  :  12-15. 

Neither  here  nor  elsewhere  in  the  Old  Testament  is  there 
any  suggestion  that  those  who  had  themselves  been  set  free 
from  Egyptian  bondage  should  undertake  to  abolish  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery.  But  we  do  have  here,  as  in  many  other 
laws,  the  purpose  to  mitigate  the  hardships  of  the  slave  life. 
It  would  be  well  if  in  our  memorizing  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments we  could  use  the  Deuteronomic  version  of  the  fourth 
commxand.  Not  so  much  in  the  superficial  imitation  of  the 
pictured  act  of  deity,  but  in  the  actual  elevation  of  humanity 
do  we  find  the  fundamental  purpose  of  wise  Sabbath  law. 

We  shall  see  that  in  the  later  years  of  Israel,  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Sabbath  became  a  burden  too  heavy  to  be  borne, 
a  burden  evaded  by  all  manner  of  pious  fraud ;  but  a  writer 
says  truly  that  "the  Hebrew  Sabbath  .  .  .  became  one  of  the 
most  significant  contributions  of  the  Hebrews  to  the  spiritual 
treasury  of  mankind."  Missionaries  to  Africa  tell  us  that 
a  most  important  advance  upon  heathenism  is  made,  when 
the  Sabbath  enters  with  its  solemn  joy  into  the  sad,  endless, 
brutal  monotony  of  the  heathen  life. 

Jesus  and  his  interpreter  Paul  have  set  us  free  from  the 
rigid  observance  of  any  set  day  of  the  week,  and  bidden 
us  hold  every  day,  as  every  duty,  sacred  to  God.  Our 
observance  of  the  Lord's  Day  is  not  a  twentieth  century  sub- 
stitute for  the  ancient  observance  of  the  Sabbath ;  nor  is  it 
our  compulsory  submission  to  a  law  written  upon  a  table  of 

100 


NATIONAL   LIFE   AND   FAITH  [V-3] 

stone.     It  is  the  act  of  the  Christian,  who,  as  Luther  says, 
is  "the  most  free  lord  of  all,  and  servant  of  none." 

FiHh  Week,  Third  Day, 

2.  A  Decalogue  before  the  Decalogue 

Read    Exodus    34,    noting    its    glorious    picture    of    Jehovah 
(verses  6,  7)  and  its  description  of  Moses's  shining  face. 

Compare  II  Cor.  3 :  12-18. 

Behind  the  brief  code  which  we  have  studied,  there  seems 
to  lie  an  earlier  code  of  Ten  Words.  In  Exodus  34 :  28,  we 
have  the  statement,  "He  [Moses]  wrote  upon  the  tables  the 
words  of  the  covenant,  the  ten  commandments."  As  we 
study  the  preceding  verses,  we  are  able  with  fair  certainty 
to  find  the  Ten  Words  to  which  the  verse  refers.  As  trans- 
lated and  numbered  by  Bade  (p.  91)  they  are  as  follows: 

(i.)   Thou  shalt  not  prostrate  thyself  before  any  other  god 

(v.  14). 
(2.)   Thou  shalt  make  thee  no  molten  gods   (v.  17). 
(3.)   Thou  shalt  keep  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread   (v.  18). 
(4.)   Every  first-born  is  mine  (v.  19). 
(5.)   The  feast  of  weeks  thou  shalt  observe  (v.  22). 
(6.)   And  the   feast  of   ingathering  at  the  turn  of   the  year 

(v.  22). 
(7,)   Thou    shalt   not   offer   the   blood    of    my    sacrifice    with 

leaven  (v.  25). 
(8.)   The  offering  of  the  Passover  shall  not  be  left  until  the 

morning   (v.  25). 
(9.)   The  best  of  the  firstlings  of  thy  ground  thou  shalt  bring 

to  the  house  of  Jahveh  thy  God  (v.  26). 
(10.)   Thou  shalt  not  seethe  a  kid  in  its  mother's  milk  (v.  26). 

Some  writers  enumerate  the  laws  differently;  some  add  the 
Sabbath  law  (v.  21). 

In  these  early  laws  there  is  far  more  emphasis  upon  ritual 
than  upon  righteousness.  When  our  missionaries  first  went 
to  the  South  Seas  and  to  Micronesia,  they  found  among  the 
natives  a  ritual  of  great  influence.     As  soon  as  the  people 

Id 


[V-3]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

became  responsive  to  the  new  teaching,  they  were  extremely 
anxious  to  know  just  how  to  practice  the  white  man's  wor- 
ship/* This  early  decalogue  speaks  of  a  time  when  the  grave 
problem -of  religion  was  this:  "How  shall  I  come  before 
Jehovah?  What  taboo  or  divine  prohibition  must  one  ob- 
serve ?" 

But  the  position  of  a  people  is  not  so  important  as  their 
direction.  These  early  laws  were  for  the  most  part  moving 
toward  loftier  conceptions  of  the  character  of  God  and  the 
task  of  man. 

3.  "The  Book  of  the  Covenant" 

Passages  from  Exodus  20:22  to  23:  ig 

Read  rapidly  Exodus  21-23:  19  as  a  study  in  early  law,  and 
a  picture  of  early  Hebrew  culture. 

From  the  maze  of  laws,  civil  and  religious,  which  we  meet 
as  we  study  the  Pentateuch,  we  may  select  as  typical  and 
almost  certainly  early  the  section  commonly  called  the  Book 
of  the  Covenant.^'  The  laws  answer  such  questions  as  these : 
"How  shall  we  treat  slaves?  How  shall  we  deal  with  the 
man  who  borrows  and  misuses  the  thing  he  has  borrowed? 
How  shall  we  treat  the  man  who  is  careless  with  fire?  How 
shall  we  deal  with  a  thief,  a  burglar,  a  slave-beater,  a  kid- 
napper, a  murderer?"    They  reveal  the  life  of  a  people  feel- 


14  A  striking  illustration  of  the  interest  of  primitive  people  in  the  cultus 
is  given  by  Jean  K.  Mackenzie  in  her  "The  Ten  Tyings,"  Atlantic  Monthly, 
19 1 6,  p.  '796fT.  Speaking  of  the  communal  life  of  Africa,  she  says:  "To 
every  qualified  Christian  many  such  women  come,  and  men  come;  wherever 
the  Word  of  God  has  been  accepted  in  our  region  there  has  begun  to  be  a 
busyness  about  the  practice  of  religion.  The  technique  of  the  art  of  Christian 
living  has  always  proved  to  be  a  matter  of  immediate  excitement.  The  little 
brown  hut  where  the  foremost  Christian  lives,  the  man  or  woman  most  ap- 
proved as  expert  by  the  neighbors,  becomes  a  sort  of  school  of  technique.  .  ,  . 
'And  that  tying  about  the  day  of  Sunday,  how  may  you  do  when  the  head- 
man has  sent  you  to  the  beach  with  a  load  of  rubber?  Himself  he  walks  in 
the  caravan,  and  in  his  heart  is  such  a  hunger  for  goods  that  he  hates  to  sleep 
at  night,  let  alone  rest  of  a  Sunday.'  " 

's  The  section  is  not  a  unit.  It  includes  the  "words,"  the  "judgments," 
and  a  group  of  moral  and  ethical  enactments.  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  article 
on  "Exodus,"  p.  86. 

102 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [V-4I 

ing  the  obligations  of  a  settled  society,  and  looking  upon 
every  civil  obligation  as  a  religious  duty.  The  following  pas- 
sage may  serve  to  illustrate  the  character  of  the  laws : 

If  fire  break  out,  and  catch  in  thorns,  so  that  the 
shocks  of  grain,  or  the  standing  grain,  or  the  iield  are 
consumed ;  he  that  kindled  the  fire  shall  surely  make 
restitution. 

If  a  man  shall  deliver  unto  his  neighbor  money  or 
stuff  to  keep,  and  it  be  stolen  out  of  the  man's  house ; 
if  the  thief  be  found,  he  shall  pay  double.  If  the 
thief  be  not  found,  then  the  master  of  the  house  shall 
come  near  unto  God.  to  see  whether  he  have  not  put  his 
hand  unto  his  neighbor's  goods.  For  every  matter  of 
trespass,  whether  it  be  for  ox,  for  ass,  for  sheep,  for 
raiment,  or  for  any  manner  of  lost  thing,  whereof  one 
saith,  This  is  it,  the  cause  of  both  parties  shall  come 
before  God ;  he  whom  God  shall  condemn  shall  pay 
double  unto  his  neighbor. 

If  a  man  deliver  unto  his  neighbor  an  ass,  or  an  ox, 
or  a  sheep,  or  any  beast,  to  keep ;  and  it  die,  or  be  hurt, 
or  driven  away,  no  man  seeing  it :  the  oath  of  Jehovah 
shall  be  between  them  both,  whether  he  hath  not  put 
his  hand  unto  his  neighbor's  goods ;  and  the  owner 
thereof  shall  accept  it,  and  he  shall  not  make  restitu- 
tion. But  if  it  be  stolen  from  him,  he  shall  make  resti- 
tution unto  the  owner  thereof.  If  it  be  torn  in  pieces, 
let  him  bring  it  for  witness ;  he  shall  not  make  good 
that  which  was  torn. 

And  if  a  man  borrow  aught  of  his  neighbor,  and  it 
be  hurt,  or  die,  the  owner  thereof  not  being  with  it, 
he  shall  surely  make  restitution. — Exodus  22:  6-14. 

Fifth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

4.  Moses  and  Hammurabi 

We  come  now  to  one  of  the  most  fascinating  discoveries 
of  modern  scholarship.  "In  the  winter  of  1901-2,  a  French 
expedition,  excavating  at  Susa,  the  ancient  Persepolis,  un- 
covered the  fragments  of  a  block  of  black  diorite,  which  when 
fitted  together  formed  a  great  stele.  At  the  upper  end  of 
the  front  side  of  this  is  a  sculptured  bas-relief  representing 

103 


[V-4]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE   OF  ISRAEL 

the  king  Hammurabi  receiving  his  code  of  laws  from  the 
seated  sun-god,  Shamash.  Immediately  below  the  bas-relief 
is  the  longest  Semitic  inscription  hitherto  discovered.  The 
whole  inscription  may  be  estimated  to  have  contained  forty- 
nine  columns  .  .  .  and  about  eight  thousand  words."  While 
some  earlier  legal  inscriptions  have  been  found,  this  is  "the 
oldest  body  of  laws  in  existence,  and  must  henceforth  form 
the  starting  point  for  the  systematic  study  of  historical 
jurisprudence." 

Hammurabi  was  the  sixth  king  of  the  First  Dynasty  of 
Babylon,  and  reigned  2250  or  2000  B.  C.  As  we  have  seen 
(p.  39),  he  was  a  superb  ruler,  a  true  father  of  his  people. 
He  writes  in  his  epilogue  these  words : 

"That  the  strong  may  not  injure  the  weak,  in  order  to 
protect  the  widow  and  orphans,  I  have  in  Babylon,  the  city 
where  Anu  and  Bel  raise  high  their  heads,  in  E-Sagil,  the 
temple,  whose  foundations  stand  firm  as  heaven  and  earth 
in  order  to  bespeak  justice  in  the  land,  to  settle  all  disputes, 
and  heal  all  injuries,  set  up  these  my  precious  words,  written 
upon  my  memorial  stone,  before  the  image  of  me,  as  king 
of   righteousness." 

It  is  wonderful  to  note  how  modern  are  the  problems  which 
engage  the  attention  of  the  ancient  legislator.     For  example : 

What  shall  be  done  to  the  man  who  offers  bribes  to  a 
witness  in  court?  What  shall  be  done  to  the  man  who  lets 
his  sheep  feed  upon  another's  land?  What  shall  be  done 
to  the  man  who  doesn't  keep  his  dykes  in  repair  ?  What  shall 
be  done  to  conspirators,  found  meeting  in  the  house  of  a 
tavern  keeper?  The  back  room  of  a  saloon  has  been  an 
object  of  concern  to  lawmakers  and  judges  for  a  goodly 
number  of  years. 

But  the  supreme  interest  of  the  discovery  lies  in  the 
similarities  and  contrasts  between  the  code  of  Hammurabi  and 
that  of  "Moses."  The  Hebrew  lawgiver  himself  lived  at 
least  seven  hundred  years  after  the  lawgiver  of  Babylon,  and 
many  "Mosaic"  laws  bear  evidences  of  enunciation  in  still 
later  centuries. 

104 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH 


[V-4] 


The  similarities  between  the  two  codes  are,  at  points,  very- 
striking.     Note  the  law  of  personal  injury: 

Exodus  21 :  i8,  19 :  And  if 
men  contend,  and  one  smite 
the  other  with  a  stone,  or 
with  his  fist,  and  he  die  not, 
but  keep  his  bed ;  if  he  rise 
again,  and  walk  abroad  upon 
his  staff,  then  shall  he  that 
smote  him  be  quit :  only  he 
shall  pay  for  the  loss  of  his 
time,  and  shall  cause  him  to 
be  thoroughly  healed. 


Ham.  206 :  If  a  man  has 
struck  a  man  in  a  quarrel, 
and  has  caused  him  a  wound, 
that  man  shall  swear,  "I  did 
not  strike  him  knowingly," 
and  shall  answer  for  the  doc- 
tor. 


Ham.  196,  197:  If  a  man  has 
caused  the  loss  of  a  gentle- 
man's eye,  one  shall  cause  his 
eye  to  be  lost.  If  he  has 
shattered  a  gentleman's  limb, 
one  shall  shatter  his  limb. 


Lev.  24:  19:  And  if  a  man 
cause  a  blemish  in  his  neigh- 
bor ;  as  he  hath  done,  so  shall 
it  be  done  to  him :  breach  for 
breach,  eye  for  eye,  tooth  for 
tooth ;  as  he  hath  caused  a 
blemish  in  a  man,  so  shall  it 
be  rendered  unto  him. 


There  are  laws  of  the  Mosaic  code  which  formulate  one 
procedure  for  the  free  man,  another  for  the  slave;  but  there 
is  no  Mosaic  law  which  holds  the  poor  man  cheaper  than 
his  rich  neighbor. 

Again  note  the  law  against  kidnapping: 


Ham.  14:  If  a  man  has  stolen 
the  young  son  of  a  freeman, 
he  shall  be  put  to  death. 


Exodus  21 :  16 :  And  he  that 
stealeth  a  man,  and  selleth 
him,  or  if  he  be  found  in  his 
hand,  he  shall  surely  be  put 
to  death. 


At  times  the  code  of  Hammurabi  seems  more  merciful  than 
the  Mosaic  code.     Thus  : 


Ham.  195 :  If  a  man  has 
struck  his  father,  one  shall 
cut  off  his  hands. 


Exodus  21:15:  He  that  smit- 
eth  his  father,  or  his  mother, 
shall  be  surely  put  to  death. 


Usually  the  more  ancient  code  is  harsher, 
take  the  fugitive  slave  law : 

105 


For  example, 


iV-4]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Ham.  i6:  If  a  man  has  har-  Deut.  23:  15,   16:  Thou  shalt 

boured  in  his  house  a  man-  not  dehver  unto  his  master  a 

servant     or     a     maid-servant  servant  that  is  escaped  from 

fugitive   from  the  palace,   or  his     master     unto     thee:     he 

from    a    poor    man,    and   has  shall  dwell  with  thee,  in  the 

not  produced  them  at  the  de-  midst    of    thee,    in    the    place 

mand    of     the    commandant,  which  he  shall  choose  within 

that  householder  shall  be  put  one    of    thy    gates,    where    it 

to  death.  pleaseth  him  best:  thou  shalt 

not  oppress  him. 


At  this  point,  the  Mosaic  law  (here  the  Deuteronomic  law) 
reveals  a  far  loftier  humanitarianism  than  that  of  Ham- 
murabi, loftier  indeed  than  that  of  the  fugitive  slave  law 
in  the  United  States. 

The  Babylonian  and  Mosaic  codes  contain  many  almost 
identical  laws,  and  present  some  cases  of-  actual  verbal  agree- 
ment. This  fact  means  simply  that  Babylonian  influence  had 
extended  throughout  the  Semitic  world,  and  that  Israel's 
lawgivers  utilized  some  of  the  ancient  laws  which  were 
adapted  to  the  Israelitish  situation.  But  while  the  code  of 
Hammurabi  consists  of  the  enactments  of  a  benevolent 
despot,  content  with  one  law  for  the  "gentleman,"  another 
law  for  the  "poor  man,"  the  Old  Testament  laws  are  "those 
of  an  essentially  democratic  people."  Moreover,  the  earlier 
code  is  a  civil  code.  It  deals  with  certain  ecclesiastical 
affairs,  but  not  with  the  "religious"  aspects  of  life.  While 
the  laws  are  the  gift  of  the  sun-god  Shamash,  there  is  no 
special  insistence  on  religious  motives.  The  glory  of  the 
Old  Testament  laws  is  their  emphasis  upon  the  relation  of 
Israel  to  Jehovah.  The  nest  of  the  little  bird  is  not  to  be 
mistreated,  weights  and  measures  are  not  to  be  juggled; 
why?  Jehovah  loves  justice  and  dooms  the  cruel.  To  the 
Hebrew,  every  civil  law  presents  a  corollary  from  the  funda- 
mental proposition  of  Hebrew  thinking :  "We  are  Jehovah's 
people."  Wrong  is  not  crime,  alone;  it  is  sin  against  Je- 
hovah. Obedience  to  law  is  the  human  response  to  the 
divine  plea  :•  "Ye  have  seen  what  I  did  unto  the  Egyptians,  and 

106 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [V-5] 

how  I  bare  you  on  eagles'  wings,  and  brought  you  unto  my- 
self. Now  therefore,  if  ye  will  obey  my  voice  indeed,  and 
keep  my  covenant,  then  ye  shall  be  mine  own  possession 
from  among  all  peoples"  (Exodus  19:4,  5). 

The  discovery  of  the  ancient  law  code  gives  us  a  new 
appreciation  of  our  debt  to  the  Babylonian  civilization.  (By 
the  way,  it  has  been  suggested  that  every  time  a  man  looks 
at  his  watch  he  acknowledges  his  debt  to  the  astronomers  of 
Babylon.)  It  helps  us  to  realize  that  the  laws  of  "Moses" 
are  not  a  kind  of  Jonah's  gourd,  springing  up  in  a  night ; 
but  rather,  a  great  tree  with  many  branches,  and  also  with 
many  roots,  a  tree  fed  by  heaven's  rain  and  heaven's  dew. 
The  discovery  leads  us  to  a  bigger  God,  whose  light  shines 
not  alone  upon  Israel,  but  upon  every  man  coming  into  the 
world,  upon  every  nation  which  at  any  time  has  sought  the 
peace  and  the  power  of  justice.'*' 

Fifth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

5.  The  Tabernacle 
A  writer  says : 

"The  arrival  of  the  Israelites  at  Sinai  marks  the  greatest 
of  all  turning  points  in  Israel's  history.  We  reach  what 
was  the  core  and  kernel  of  the  nation's  life,  the  covenant  by 
which  all  the  tribes  were  united  in  allegiance  to  one  God, 
and  the  laws — ritual,  social,  and  moral — upon  which  the 
covenant  was  based.  It  was  a  very  small  nation,  a  mere 
collection  of  nomad  clans.  But  their  supreme  importance, 
greater  than  that  of  any  other  of  the  great  nations  of  the 
earth,  lay  not  in  their  history  or  in  the  extent  of  their 
territory,  but  in  the  fact  that  they  contained  the  germ  out  of 
which  grew  the  kingdom  of  God.  And  the  germ  was  planted 
at  the  mountain  of  God." 

In  his  religious  organization  of  his  people,  Moses  in- 
augurated or  authorized  certain  ceremonies,  the  ritual  of  the 
worship  of  Jehovah. 


^6  The  entire  Code  of  Hammurabi,  with  valuable  discussion,  may  be  found 
in  H.  B.  D.,  extra  volume,  under  title,  "Code  of  Hammurabi." 

107 


[V-5]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

Now  Moses  used  to  take  the  tent  and  to  pitch  it 
without  the  camp,  afar  off  from  the  camp;  and  he 
called  it,  The  tent  of  meeting.  And  it  came  to  pass, 
that  every  one  that  sought  Jehovah  went  out  unto  the 
tent  of  meeting,  which  was  without  the  camp.  And 
it  came  to  pass,  when  Moses  went  out  unto  the  Tent, 
that  all  the  people  rose  up,  and  stood,  every  man  at 
his  tent  door,  and  looked  after  Moses,  until  he  was 
gone  into  the  Tent.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Moses 
entered  into  the  Tent,  the  pillar  of  cloud  descended, 
and  stood  at  the  door  of  the  Tent:  and  Jehovah  spake 
with  Moses.  And  all  the  people  saw  the  pillar  of 
cloud  stand  at  the  door  of  the  Tent :  and  all  the  people 
rose  up  and  worshipped,  every  man  at  his  tent  door. 
And  Jehovah  spake  unto  Moses  face  to  face,  as  a  man 
speaketh  unto  his  friend.  And  he  turned  again  into 
the  camp :  but  his  minister  Joshua,  the  son  of  Nun,  a 
young  man,  departed  not  out  of  the  Tent. — Exodus 
33:7-11- 

The  tabernacle  of  the  wilderness  was — at  first,  certainly 
— a  tent  outside  the  camp,  to  which  Moses  and  his  attendant 
repaired  to  hear  the  oracles  of  Jehovah.^' 

Within  the  tent  of  meeting  was  the  ark,  a  chest  not  unlike 
the  portable  shrines  of  other  Semitic  peoples.  For  centuries 
the  ark  was  doubtless  regarded  by  the  common  people  not 
only  as  the  symbol  of  Jehovah's  presence,  but  actually  as  "the 
focus  of  divine  powers."  Defeats  were  attributed  to  the 
absence  of  the  ark  from  the  armies,  victories  were  expected 
from  its  presence. 

And  they  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  gat  them 
up  to  the  top  of  the  mountain,  saying,  Lo,  we  are  here, 
and  will  go  up  unto  the  place  which  Jehovah  hath 
promised :  for  we  have  sinned.  And  Moses  said. 
Wherefore  now  do  ye  transgress  the  commandment  of 
Jehovah,  seeing  it  shall  not  prosper?  Go  not  up,  for 
Jehovah  is  not  among  you ;  that  ye  be  not  smitten  down 
before  your  enemies.  For  there  the  Amalekite  and 
the  Canaanite  are  before  you,  and  ye  shall  fall  by  the 


>7  Later  writers,  touched  by  the  glamour  of  the  memories  of  Solomon's  temple, 
glorified  the  simple  cJd  tent  of  meeting,  and  conceived  of  it  as  a  kind  of  movable 
temple,  always  in  the  center  of  the  camp,  surrounded  by  the  thousands  of 
thousands  of  Israel. 

108 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [V-6] 

sword :  because  ye  are  turned  back  from  following 
Jehovah,  therefore  Jehovah  will  not  be  with  you.  But 
they  presumed  to  go  up  to  the  top  of  the  mountain : 
nevertheless  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  Jehovah,  and 
Moses,  departed  not  out  of  the  camp.  Then  the 
Amalekite  came  down,  and  the  Canaanite  who  dwelt  in 
that  mountain,  and  smote  them  and  beat  them  down, 
even  unto  Hormah. — Num.  14  :  40-45. 
Compare  I  Sam.  Chapters  4  and  5, 

But  a  god  who  journeys  with  his  people  in  their  journey- 
ings,  fights  with  his  people  when  his  ark  is  with  them,  is 
not  imprisoned  in  or  near  some  definite  "sacred"  tree  or 
hill  or  well.  Even  the  crude  popular  thought  of  Jehovah 
was  moving  toward  the  conception  of  a  God  who  could  go 
with  those  who  fight,  and  stay  with  those  who  abide  at 
home,  "and  be  everywhere  for  good";  the  conception,  that 
is,  of  an  omnipresent,  benevolent  God. 

Fiitb  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

Concluding  Notes 

a.  The  Death  of  Moses 

And  Moses  went  up  from  the  plains  of  Moab  unto 
mount  Nebo,  to  the  top  of  Pisgah,  that  is  over  against 
Jericho.  And  Jehovah  showed  him  all  the  land  of  • 
Gilead,  unto  Dan,  and  all  Naphtali,  and  the  land  of 
Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  and  all  the  land  of  Judah, 
unto  the  hinder  sea,  and  the  South,  and  the  Plain  >Df 
the  valley  of  Jericho  the  city  of  palm-trees,  unto  Zoar. 
And  Jehovah  said  unto  him,  This  is  the  land  which  I 
sware  unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob,  say- 
ing, I  will  give  it  unto  thy  seed :  I  have  caused  thee 
to  see  it  with  thine  eyes,  but  thou  shalt  not  go  over 
thither.  So  Moses  the  servant  of  Jehovah  died  there 
in  the  land  of  Moab,  according  to  the  word  of  Jehovah. 
And  he  buried  him  in  the  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab 
over  against  Beth-peor :  but  no  man  knoweth  of  his 
sepulchre  unto  this  day.  And  Moses  was  a  hundred 
and  twenty  years  old  when  he  died :  his  eye  was  not 
dim,  nor  his  natural  force  abated. — Deut.  34:  1-7. 

109 


[V-6]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

"Next  to  Christ  himself,  Moses  is  the  greatest  'founder' 
of  reHgion."  To  him  three  faiths,  Judaism,  Christianity,  and 
Mohammedanism,  own  allegiance.  The  man  himself  was 
greater  than  his  deeds.  The  crude  reformer  of  the  early 
days,  child  of  generous  impulse,  disciplined  by  the  lonely 
years  in  Midian,  inspired  by  his  experience  of  Jehovah,  be- 
came one  of  those  to  whom  God  reveals  himself,  one  of  those 
who 

"Rise  to  their  feet,  as  He  passes  by. 
Gentlemen  unafraid." 

His  passionate  devotion  to  Jehovah  ministered  to  a  passion- 
ate, self-forgetful  devotion  to  Jehovah's  people  and  their 
highest  interests.  One  should  underscore  the  dramatic 
prayer :  "Oh,  this  people  have  sinned  a  great  sin,  and  have 
made  them  gods  of  gold.  Yet  now,  if  thou  wilt  forgive  their 
sin — ;  and  if  not,  blot  me,  I  pray  thee,  out  of  thy  book  which 
thou  hast  written"  (Exodus  32:31-33).  He  knows  no 
failure  but  the  failure  of  his  people,  no  success  apart  from 
theirs. 

The  lonely  man  had  guided  his  wayward,  stubborn,  vacillat- 
ing people  to  the  border  of  the  Land  of  Promise.  And  now 
he  longed  to  set  foot  upon  the  land  to  which  his  pilgrim 
thoughts  had  been  journeying  through  all  the  years.  But 
he  heard  the  divine  mandate,  "Thou  shalt  not  go  over  this 
Jordan."  But  to  him,  as  to  other  men  who  seem  just  to  miss 
their  goal,  were  given  certain  great  compensations : 

a.  He  was  permitted  to  see  the  good  land.  It's  a  great 
thing  to  see  an  ideal,  into  whose  realm  one  cannot  enter. 

b.  He  was  permitted  to  select  and  to  strengthen  the  man 
who  was  privileged  to  lead  Israel  into  the  land  which  he 
himself  could  only  see  from  afar.  It  has  been  truly  said  that 
the  greatest  contribution  to  life  that  a  man  can  make  is  to 
share  with  others  both  the  contagion  of  his  character  and  his 
best  vision. 

c.  He  learned,  what  every  brave  and  disappointed  man  may 
learn  :  "In  the  will  of  God  is  our  peace."     And  so  he  died, 

no 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [V-7] 

and  no  man  knows  the  place  of  his  burial  to  this  day.  It 
is  better  so.  The  master  had  done  his  work,  and  his  tomb, 
if  known,  would  have  been  through  the  subsequent  ages  the 
goal  of  idolatrous  pilgrimages. 

"Let  the  thick  curtain  fall; 
I  better  know  than  all 
How  little  I  have  gained, 
How  vast  the  unattained.  .  .  . 

Sweeter  than  any  sung 

My  songs  that  found  no  tongue; 

Nobler  than  any  fact 

My  wish  that  failed  of  act. 

Others  shall  sing  the  song, 
Others  shall  right  the  wrong, — 
Finish  what  I  begin, 
And  all  I  fail  of  win.  .  .  . 

Hail  to  the  coming  singers ! 
Hail  to  the  brave  light-bringers ! 
Forward  I  reach  and  share 
All  that  they  sing  and  dare." 

— Whittier,  "My  Triumph." 

At  the  Transfiguration,  Moses  and  Elijah  are  seen  talking 
with  the  Master  of  us  all.  The  Revelator  hears  the  heavenly 
chorus  singing  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb,  the  song 
of  the  lawgiver  and  of  the  Redeemer. 

Fifth  Week,  Seventh  Day, 

b.  The  Creed  of  an  Israelite  at  Kadesh 

Could  we  have  questioned  one  of  the  more  intelligent  of 
the  Israelites  who  gathered  about  the  ancient  springs  of 
Kadesh,  concerning  his  people  and  his  faith,  he  might  have 
answered  in  some  such  way  as  this :  "The  fathers  of  our 
people  came  from  the  land  of  Mesopotamia,  and  the  home 
of  the  moon-god.  But  by  an  impulse  of  religion,  they  were 
driven  from  the  oldtime  home  and  at  last  they  entered 
Canaan,  the  land  which  even  now  seems  to  lie  just  beyond 

III 


[V-q]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

our  reach.  Forced  by  hunger  some  of  the  family  moved 
down  into  Egypt,  and  prospered  in  the  time  of  Joseph  our 
ancestor.  But  as  our  numbers  increased,  we  were  made  serfs, 
objects  of  hate,  suspicion,  and  fear.  But  a  man  came  at  the 
fateful  time  to  set  us  free.  Moses  called  us  to  the  worship 
of  the  true  God,  whose  name  is  Jehovah.  By  a  mighty 
hand  our  God  rescued  us  from  the  mighty  gods  of  Egypt. 
By  Moses  Jehovah  has  led  us  through  the  wilderness.  At 
the  mountain  of  Sinai  we  received  the  laws  of  our  dread  and 
mighty  God.  If  we  obey  these  laws,  we  live;  if  we  disobey, 
we  die.  The  sacred  ark  in  the  tent  of  meeting  without  the 
camp  is  the  symbol,  yes,  the  throne  of  our  God,  and  our 
leader  is  the  mediator  between  us  and  our  God.  Other 
nations  have  their  gods,  living  and  strong,  but  for  us  there 
is  only  one  God  to  worship.  He  goes  with  us,  fights  our 
battles  for  us.  Yet  his  proper  seat  is  Sinai  [Horeb].  Je- 
hovah is  ours,  and  we  are  his.  His  fate  is  knit  with  ours, 
and  ours  in  turn  with  his.  We  quarrel  often,  one  clan  with 
another,  we  are  jealous  each  of  the  other;  ever  and  again  we 
have  proved  unworthy  of  our  leader  and  our  God ;  but  our 
enemies,  our  leader,  and  our  God  have  bound  us  together, 
and  we  are  one  people,  Jehovah's  possession." 

Even  while  answering  our  questions,  this  Israelite  might 
fall  in  terror  before  the  thunder,  "the  voice"  of  God.  He 
would  confess  to  fear  when  in  the  neighborhood  of  certain 
trees  or  stones,  wells  or  hills,  held  sacred  because  haunted 
by  spirits,  bad  or  good. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  Why  may  the  ambitions  and  enterprises  of  Ramses  II 
have   affected    harmfully    the    Hebrews    in    Egypt? 

2.  Compare  and  contrast  Moses's  experience  at  the  burning 
bush  with  the  experience  of  a  man  who  decides  to  become 
a  foreign  missionary.  Why  should  early  attempts  at  reforma- 
tion make  harder  the  conditions  to  be  reformed? 

3.  Discuss  the  origin  and  development  of  the  Feast  of  the 

112 


NATIONAL  LIFE  AND  FAITH  [V-q] 

Passover.  Try  to  learn  how  the  Jews  in  your  community 
celebrate  the  feast.  What  elements  of  the  feast  are  preserved 
in  the  Lord's  Supper? 

4.  If  you  had  been  a  witness  of  the  crossing  of  the  Red 
Sea,  what  would  you  have  seen? 

5.  All  the  "spies"  dealt  with  the  same  general  facts.  How 
do  you  account  for  the  record  that  ten  brought  back  an 
unfavorable  report,  while  two  urged  immediate  advance?  Do 
you  meet  with  a  similar  grouping  of  men,  who  inquire  of 
the  promised  land  of  a  cooperative  commonwealth,  a  federa- 
tion of  the  world? 

6.  Compare  and  contrast  the  "decalogues"  of  Exodus  34, 
Exodus  20,  and  Deut.  5.  Would  you  expect  to  find  among 
the  primitive  and  "immoral"  tribes  of  Africa  much  or  little 
observance  of  ritual  in  religion? 

7.  Compare  and  contrast  the  Laws  of  Hammurabi  with 
those  of  the  Mosaic  Code.  Do  you  hold  views  of  the  Bible 
which  make  you  afraid  of  possible  "finds"  of  the  archeolo- 
gists  or  of  other  scientists? 

8.  If  a  man  thought  that  his  god  had  his  seat  upon  a 
mountain,  yet  was  present  in  or  near  a  movable  ark,  would 
he  have  a  higher  or  a  lower  idea  of  deity  than  the  man  who 
believed  that  his  god  dwelt  exclusively  near  some  shrine, 
some  tree,  well,  or  stone?    Give  reason  for  your  answer. 


113 


CHAPTER  IV 

Conquest  and  Chaos 

The  Period  of  Joshua  and  the  Judges 

Introductory 

When  the  desert  tribes  of  Israel  found  themselves  at  last  in 
Canaan,  they  stood  face  to  face  with  a  civilization  already  at 
least  fifteen  hundred  years  old.  The  Canaanites  lived  in  cities 
with  massive  walls,  were  skilled  and  far-ranging  merchants, 
who  offered  at  once  serious  obstacles  and  seductive  tempta- 
tions to  the  hardy  warriors  of  Israel, 

Palestine  was  not  a  land  of  far  distances.  The  territory 
within  her  usual  limits  was  but  "slightly  larger  than  Vermont." 
There  was  little  unoccupied  land  to  welcome  the  invaders. 
Before  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  too,  "a  Mediterranean  people 
called  Philistines  ,  .  .  had  migrated  from  the  island  of  Crete, 
to  the  sea  plain  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Palestine.  By 
1 100  B.  C.  these  Philistines  formed  a  highly  civilized  and  war- 
like nation,,  or  group  of  city-kingdoms.'" 

Our  studies  now  will  give  us  glimpses  of  the  days  in  which, 
by  slaughter  or  enslavement,  the  Israelites  tried  to  find  stand- 
ing-room, elbow-room,  in  Canaan.  We  shall  see  that  the 
would-be  conquerors  were  often  conquered;  that  local  heroes 
won  local  victories ;  and  that  now  and  then  the  tribesmen 
heard  the  summons  to  wider  conquest  and  to  loftier  faith. 

I.  VICTORIES  AND  VICTORS 
Sixth  Week,  First  Day. 

I.  Joshua  and  Jericho 
Read  rapidly  Josh.  Chapters  i  to  6,  to  get  the  atmosphere  of 

»  Breasted,  "Ancient  Times."  p.  203. 

114 


CONQUEST  AND  CHAOS  [Vl-i] 

the  book,  and  an  appreciation  of  the  personality  of  Israel's 
new  leader. 

The  great  adventure  into  the  Land  of  Promise  was  left  to 
Moses's  successor.  Joshua,  soldier  of  Jehovah,  is  by  no  means 
so  hispiring  a  character  as  Moses ;  but  he  is  good  to  look  upon. 
The  record  puts  into  his  lips  one  speech  well  worthy  of  the 
man  upon  whom  Moses  had  put  his  spirit.  The  speech  brings 
before  us  three  permanent,  unescapable  elements  of  life: 
Freedom,  Service,  Crisis. 

Now  therefore  fear  Jehovah,  and  serve  him  in  sin- 
cerity and  in  truth ;  and  put  away  the  gods  which  your 
fathers  served  beyond  the  River,  and  in  Egypt;  and 
serve  ye  Jehovah.  And  if  it  seem  evil  unto  you  to  serve 
Jehovah,  choose  you  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve; 
whether  the  gods  which  your  fathers  served  that  were 
beyond  the  River,  or  the  gods  of  the  Amorites,  in 
whose  land  ye  dwell :  but  as  for  me  and  my  house,  we 
will  serve  Jehovah. — Josh.  24:  14,  15. 

You  are  free,  certainly,  but  free  only  to  serve.  You  may 
serve  the  gods  of  the  heathen  round  about;  you  may  serve 
the  gods  beyond  the  River  and  in  Egypt;  you  may  serve 
Jehovah.  Don't  you  want  to  serve?  You  will  know  then  a 
fatal  service. 

"Last  night  my  soul  drove  out  to  sea, 
Down  through  the  pagan  gloom. 
As  chartless  as  eternity. 
As  dangerous  as  doom. 

By  blinding  gusts  of  no-god  chased, 

My  crazy  craft  plunged  on ; 
I  crept  aloft  in  prayer  to  find 

The  light-house  of  the  dawn. 

No  shore,  no  star,  no  sail  ahead. 

No  lookout's  saving  song ; 
Death  and  the  rest  athwart  my  bow, 

And  all  my  reckoning  wrong." 

And  this  day  is  the  day  of  choice.     Why  the  haste?     Are 

115 


[VI-i]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

there  not  more  summers  in  the  sky?  Perhaps,  but  the  new 
summers  in  the  sky  bring  only  dark,  cold,  dead  winter  to 
the  heart. 

We  shall  remember  Joshua  by  that  speech  recorded  of  him; 
and  repeat  for  ourselves  its  closing  words :  "As  for  me  and 
my  house,  we  will  serve  Jehovah." 

The  conquest  of  Canaan  began  with  the  capture  of  Jericho. 
The  solemn  march  in  silence  around  the  city,  day  following 
day;  the  sharp  and  sudden  shout,  the  sounding  of  the  rams' 
horns,  may  well  have  deeply  impressed  the  superstitious 
dwellers  in  Jericho. 

And  Joshua  rose  early  in  the  morning,  and  the  priests 
took  up  the  ark  of  Jehovah.  And  the  seven  priests 
bearing  the  seven  trumpets  of  rams'  horns  before  the 
ark  of  Jehovah  went  on  continually,  and  blew  the 
trumpets  :  and  the  armed  men  went  before  them ;  and 
the  rearward  came  after  the  ark  of  Jehovah,  the  priests 
blowing  the  trumpets  as  they  went.  And  the  second 
day  they  compassed  the  city  once,  and  returned  into  the 
camp:  so" they  did  six  days.  And  it  came  to  pass  on 
the  seventh  day,  that  they  rose  early  at  the  dawning  of 
the  day,  and  compassed  the  city  after  the  same  manner 
seven  times  :  only  on  that  day  they  compassed  the  city 
seven  times. — Josh.  6:  12-15. 

Rahab  may  have  bought  the  safety  of  her  family  at  the 
price  of  treachery. 

"That  her  [Jericho's]  walls  fell  to  the  sound  of  Joshua's 
trumpets  is  no  exaggeration,  but  the  soberest  summary  of 
all  her  history.  Judaea  could  never  keep  her.  She  fell  to 
Northern  Israel,  till  Northern  Israel  perished.  She  fell  to 
Bacchides  and  the  Syrians.  She  fell  to  Aristobulus.  ,  .  . 
She  fell  without  a  blow  to  Pompey ;  and  at  the  approach  of 
Herod  and  again  of  Vespasian  her  people  deserted  her.  .  .  . 
Her  people  seem  never  to  have  been  distinguished  for  bravery, 
and  indeed  in  that  climate  how  could  they?  It  was  impos- 
sible they  could  be  warriors,  or  anything  but  irrigators,  pad- 
dlers  in  water  and  soft  earth.  No  great  man  was  born  in 
Jericho  ;  no  heroic  deed  was  ever  done  in  her.  She  has  been 
called  'the  key'  and  'the  guardhouse'  of  Judaea ;  she  was  only 

116 


CONQUEST  AND   CHAOS  [VI-2] 

the  pantry.    She  never  stood  a  siege,  and  her  inhabitants  were 
always  running  away."' 

Sixth  Week,  Second  Day. 

2.  The  Conquest  Incomplete 

The  pitilessness  of  the  wars  of  conquest  may  be  frankly 
admitted.  The  standards  of  the  ancient  warriors  were  not 
our  standards,  and  yet  some  of  the  fighters  of  the  twentieth 
century  cannot  afford  to  throw  stones  at  their  predecessors. 
The  tales  of  destruction  are  relieved  from  loathsomeness, 
partly  by  the  remembrance  of  the  unspeakable  rottenness  of 
Canaanitish  civilization,  partly  by  the  remembrance  of  the 
crude  and  barbaric  idealism  which  made  Israel's  fight  not 
merely  a  fight  for  territory,  but  a  fight  for  the  God  of  Israel. 
To  the  tribesmen  of  Israel  the  biggest  cause  was  the  victory 
of  their  God  over  the  gods  of  Canaan.  To  their  thought, 
Jehovah  was  the  inspiration  of  all  their  warfare ;  to  him  they 
rendered  thanks  for  victory;  the  spoils  of  war  were  his. 

Naturally  the  stories* of  triumph  and  deliverance  have  been 
more  carefully  preserved  than  the  stories  of  defeat.  Once 
at  least  the  victory  was  so  complete  that  an  ancient  poem, 
quoted  by  the  book  of  Joshua,  declared  that  the  sun  and 
moon  stood  still  till  the  long  battle  was  won.^ 

Then  spake  Joshua  to  Jehovah  in  the  day  when 
Jehovah  delivered  up  the  Amorites  before  the  children 
of  Israel;  and  he  said  in  the  sight  of  Israel, 

Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon ; 

And  thou,  Moon,  in  the  valley  of  Aijalon. 

And  the  sun  stood  still,  and  the  moon  stayed, 

Until  the  nation  had  avenged  themselves  of  their 
enemies. 
Is  not  this  written  in  the  book  of  Jashar?    And  the  sun 
stayed  in   the  midst  of  heaven,  and  hasted  not  to  go 
down  about  a  whole  day. — Josh.  10 :  12,  13. 


2  G.  A.  Smith,  "Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land,"  p.  26~S.  (an 
important  and  stimulating  book). 

3  How  curious  it  is  to  remember  that  Luther  said  of  Copernicus,  "The  fool 
will  upset  the  whole  science  of  astronomy.  But  as  the  Holy  Scripture  shows, 
Joshua  commanded  the  sun,  not  the  earth,  to  stand  still." 

117 


[VI-2]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

The  conquest  of  the  land  was  far  from  complete.  In  the 
stories  of  the  book  of  Judges  and  in  those  of  I  Samuel,  we 
note  evidences  that  the  Canaanites  and  Philistines  lived  their 
own  lives  in  the  land,  pursued  their  own  religions,  and  were 
now  and  again  the  masters  of  Israel.  A  writer  calls  our 
attention  to  the  fact  that  there  was  a  zone  of  Canaanitish 
cities,  which  effectually  separated  southern  Israel  from  the 
tribes  of  the  north,  and  prevented  therefore  the  unity  of 
sentiment  which  would  have  promoted  unity  of  national  life. 

3.  Caleb,  the  Veteran 

Then  the  children  of  Judah  drew  nigh  unto  Joshua 
in  Gilgal :  and  Caleb  the  son  of  Jephunneh  the  Kenizzite 
said  unto  him,  Thou  knowest  the  thing  that  Jehovah 
spake  unto  Moses  the  man  of  God  concerning  me  and 
concerning  thee  in  Kadesh-barnea.  Forty  years  old  was 
I  when  Moses  the  servant  of  Jehovah  sent  me  from 
Kadesh-barnea  to  spy  out  the  land ;  and  I  brought  him 
word  again  as  it  was  in  my  heart.  Nevertheless  my 
brethren  that  went  up  with  me  made  the  heart  of  the 
people  melt;  but  I  wholly  followed  Jehovah  my  God. 
And  Aloses  sware  on  that  day,  saying,  Surely  the  land 
whereon  thy  foot  hath  trodden  shall  be  an  inheritance 
to  thee  and  to  thy  children  for  ever,  because  thou 
hast  wholly  followed  Jehovah  my  God.  And  now, 
behold,  Jehovah  hath  kept  me  alive,  as  he  spake,  these 
forty  and  five  years,  from  the  time  that  Jehovah  spake 
this  word  unto  Moses,  while  Israel  walked  in  the 
wilderness :  and  now,  lo,  I  am  this  day  fourscore  and 
five  years  old.  As  yet  I  am  as  strong  this  day  as  I  was 
in  the  day  that  Moses  sent  me:  as  my  strength  was 
then,  even  so  is  my  strength  now,  for  war,  and  to  go 
out  and  to  come  in.  Now  therefore  give  me  this  hill- 
country,  whereof  Jehovah  spake  in  that  day ;  for  thou 
heardest  in  that  day  how  the  Anakim  were  there,  and 
cities  great  and  fortified :  it  may  be  that  Jehovah  will 
be  with  me,  and  I  shall  drive  them  out,  as  Jehovah 
spake. — Josh.  14  :  6-12, 

The  editor  of  the  book  of  Joshua  has  rescued  from  the 
debris  of  the  years  the  story  of  Caleb,  one  of  the  two  spies 
who    in    the   old    days   had   brought   back   to    Moses   and   the 

118 


Conquest  and  chaos  [vi-3] 

wilderness  wanderers  ^  good  report  from  the  Promised  Land. 

"  'Tis  not  the  grapes  of  Canaan  that  repay, 
But  the  high  faith  that  failed  not  by  the  way." 

With  the  glorious,  all-sufficing  faith  of  the  younger  days,  the 
aged  man  asks,  not  for  an  easy  berth,  not  for  a  grant  of  land 
bestowed  by  a  grateful  people,  but  for  one  more  hard  job, 
the  conquest  of  the  hill  country,  held  by  the  Anakim,  whose 
cities  are  great  and  fortified.  The  story  may  be  a  tale  grow- 
ing out  of  the  life  of  a  clan  rather  than  a  man ;  but  the  request 
of  the  veteran  thrills  one  as  does  the  word  of  Tennyson'* 
aged  Ulysses  to  his  comrades : 

"My  purpose  holds 
To  sail  beyond  the  sunset,  and  the  paths 
Of  all  the  western  stars,  until  I  die. 
It  may  be  that  the  gulfs  will  wash  us  down : 
It  may  be  we  shall  touch  the  Happy  Isles, 
And  see  the  great  Achilles,  whom  we  knew. 
Tho'  much  is  taken,  much  abides :  and  tho' 
We  are  not  now  that  strength  which  in  old  days 
Moved  earth  and  heaven,  that  which  we  are,  we  are ; 
One  equal  temper  of  heroic  hearts, 
Made  weak  by  time  and  fate,  but  strong  in  will 
To  strive,  to  seek,  to  find,  and  not  to  yield." 

The  petty  isolated  offensive  of  Caleb  gives  us  probably  a 
fair  idea  of  the  sporadic  military  operations  of  the  Hebrews 
in  the  earlier  days  of  their  settlement  in  Canaan. 

The  achievement  of  Deborah  is  of  exceptional  importance, 
for  it  reveals  an  entente  of  some  of  the  northern  tribes,. 
prophetic  of  actual  national  unification. 

Sixth  Week,  Third  Day. 

4.  Deborah,  the  Hebrew  Jeanne  d'Arc 

Read  Judges  5. 

.  For  that  the  leaders  took  the  lead  in  Israel, 
For  that  the  people  offered  themselves  willingly. 
Bless  ye  Jehovah. 

119 


VI-3J    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE   OE  ISRAEL 

Hear,  O  ye  kings;  give  ear,  O  ye  princes; 

I,  even  I,  will  sing  unto  Jehovah ; 

I  will  sing  praise  to  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel. 

Jehovah,  when  thou  wentest  forth  out  of   Seir, 

When  thou  marchedst  out  of  the  field  of  Edom, 

The  earth  trembled,  the  heavens  also  dropped, 

Yea,  the  clouds  dropped  water. 

The  mountains  quaked  at  the  presence  of  Jehovah, 

Even  yon  Sinai  at  the  presence  of  Jehovah,  the  God  of 

Israel.  .  .  . 
Awake,  awake,  Deborah; 
Awake,  awake,  utter  a  song: 
Arise,  Barak,  and  lead  away  thy  captives,  thou  son  of 

Abinoam.  .  .  . 
The  kings  came  and  fought; 
Then  fought  the  kings  of  Canaan, 
In  Taanach  by  the  waters  of  Megiddo : 
They  took  no  gain  of  money. 
From  heaven  fought  the  stars. 
From  their  courses  they  fought  against  Sisera. 
The  river  Kishon  swept  them  away, 
That  ancient  river,  the  river  Kishon. 
O  my  soul,  march  on  with  strength. 

— Judges  5:2-5,   12,   19-21. 


The  Song  of  Deborah  is  one  of  the  oldest  war  songs  of 
literature.  One  must  read  it  aloud  to  get  the  swing  and  the 
fire  of  it.  The  Canaanites  are  masters.  The  Hebrew  peasants 
and  travelers  skulk  in  the  bypaths,  no  shield  or  spear  among 
forty  thousand  in  Israel.  Then,  "I  Deborah  arose,  I  a  mother 
in  Israel."  We  can  see  the  tribesmen  gather  to  the  conflict; 
Zebulun  and  Naphtali  gamble  with  their  lives  on  the  high 
places  of  the  field.  Just  over  there,  the  men  of  Reuben  sit 
on  the  ash-heaps  of  their  villages,  listening  to  the  pipings 
for  the  flocks,  talking,  talking,  everlastingly  talking ;  over  yon- 
der Dan  and  Asher,  having  a  good  time  by  the  sea ;  ships,  cup- 
races,  and  all  the  rest!  "Curse  ye  Meroz  .  .  ."  Why  this 
hot  attack  upon  this  little  town,  of  which  today  we  have 
no  trace,  a  town  presumably  made  up  of  perfectly  decent 
people,  who  cared  for  their  families  and  paid  their  debts  as 
well  as  most  of  us? 

120 


CONQUEST  AND  CHAOS  [VI-4] 

Curse  ye  bitterly  the  inhabitants  thereof, 
Because  they  came  not  to  the  help  of  Jehovah, 
To  the  help  of  Jehovah  against  the  mighty. 

—Judges  5:23. 

But  the  stars  fought  from  heaven,  the  ancient  river  Kishon 
swept  away  Israel's  enemy. 

The  mother  of  Sisera  peers  through  her  lattice  window : 
"Why  is  his  chariot  so  long  in  coming?"  But  it  will  not 
come/ 

"So  let  all  thine  enemies  perish,  O  Jehovah." 

Still  divided,  still  mutually  jealous,  as  were  our  thirteen 
colonies  before  the  fires  of  the  Revolution  welded  them  to- 
gether, the  tribes  of  northern  Israel  were  summoned  by 
Deborah  to  national  unity  in  the  struggle  for  national  triumph, 
"in  the  name  of  the  religious  ideal."  The  song,  then,  marks 
a  distinct  advance  toward  this  unity  of  national  life  under 
the  national  protector,  Jehovah. 

With  the  victories  of  Gideon,  we  see  still  further  progress 
toward  national  feeling  and  effort. 

Sixth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

5.  The  Sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon 

Read  Judges  6,  7,  and  8,  for  portrait  of  Gideon,  for  the 
famous  story  of  the  Three  Hundred,  and  for  appreciation 
of  social  and  religious  conditions. 

And  the  angel  of  Jehovah  came,  and  sat  under  the 
oak  which  was  in  Ophrah,  that  pertained  unto  Joash 
the  Abiezrite :  and  his  son  Gideon  was.  beating  out  wheat 
in  the  winepress,  to  hide  it  from  the  Midianites.  And 
the  angel  of  Jehovah  appeared  unto  him,  and  said  unto 
him,  Jehovah  is  with  thee,  thou  mighty  man  of  valor. 
And  Gideon  said  unto  him.  Oh,  my  lord,  if  Jehovah  is 
with  us,  why  then  is  all  this  befallen  us?  and  where 
are  all  his  wondrous  works  which  our  fathers  told  us 
of,  saying,  Did  not  Jehovah  bring  us  up  from  Egypt? 
but  now  Jehovah  hath  cast  us  off,  and  delivered  us  into 


4  Deborah  jubilantly  praises  Jael  for  a  breach  of  one  of  the  earliest  laws 
of  hospitality.  The  killing  of  Sisera  was  the  act  of  a  chaotic  and  cruel  age, 
which  was  only  beginning  to  feel  the  touch  of  the  law-abiding  and  loving  God. 

121 


[VI-4J    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE   OF  ISRAEL 

the  hand  of  Midian.  And  Jehovah  looked  upon  him, 
and  said,  Go  in  this  thy  might,  and  save  Israel  from 
the  hand  of  Midian :  have  not  I  sent  thee^  And  he  said 
unto  him,  Oh,  Lord,  wherewith  shall  I  save  Israel?  be- 
hold, my  family  is  the  poorest  in  Manasseh,  and  I  am  the 
least  in  my  father's  house.  And  Jehovah  said  unto  him, 
Surely  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  thou  shalt  smite  the 
Midianites  as  one  man.  And  he  said  unto  him,  If  now 
I  have  found  favor  in  thy  sight,  then  show  me  a  sign 
that  it  is  thou  that  talkest  with  me.  Depart  not  hence, 
I  pray  thee,  until  I  come  unto  thee,  and  bring  forth  my 
present,  and  lay  it  before  thee.  And  he  said,  I  will 
tarry  until  thou  come  again. — Judges  6:ii-i8. 

At  the  time  of  harvest,  nomads  from  the  desert  sweep  over 
the  fields  of  the  tribesmen  of  Manasseh.  Young  Gideon  is 
flailing  his  wheat — where  ?  Not  upon  the  open  threshing  floor, 
exposed  to  the  wind — and  to  the  enemy — but  in  a  wine- 
press. He  hears  a  divine  voice,  "Jehovah  is  with  thee,  thou 
mighty  man  of  valor."  Gideon  thinks  to  himself,  "Mighty 
man  of  valor?  That  is  certainly  quite  a  title  for  the  least  in 
my  father's  house,  of  a  family  the  poorest  in  Manasseh;  for 
a  man  so  frightened  that  he  must  beat  out  his  wheat  in  a 
wine-press."  But  the  voice  comes  to  him  again :  "Surely  I 
will  be  with  thee  and  thou  shalt  smite  the  Midianites  as  one 
man."  The  spirit  of  Jehovah  clothes  itself  with  Gideon  (cf. 
Judges  6:34,  margin),  and  his  three  hundred  men  learn  the 
battle  cry,  "The  sword  of  Jehovah  and  of  Gideon."  The 
cowards  gone,  the  careless  gone,  Gideon's  little  band  drives 
the  Midianites  back  into  the  desert. 

Says  Morgan  Gibbon: 

"You  know  that  large  collection  of  errors,  the  multiplication 
table.  It  is  as  full  of  mistakes  as  it  is  of  figures;  but  it  con- 
tains no  bigger  mistake  than  this,  that  twice  one  is  simply 
two,  and  that  ten  times  one  is  ten.  Nonsense !  Twice  one 
now  is  not  simply  two,  but  two  plus  their  unity.  Ten  men 
working  together,  each  man  working  heartily,  what  have  you? 
You  have  ten  times  one  man  plus  their  unity,  plus  the  enthu- 
siasm born  of  cooperation,  plus  all  the  incalculable  energies 
that  are  born  only  when  heart  is  joined  to  h;eart  and  soul  is 
joined  to  soul." 

122 


COXOUEST  AXD  CHAOS  [VI-5] 

Gideon  has  been  sometimes  styled  the  first  king  of  Israel. 
Such  victories  as  his  did  much  to  confirm  the  faith  of  Israel 
in  Israel's  chosen  deity,  to  intensify  the  national  self-con- 
sciousness.   A  writer  says : 

"To  bleed  for  others'  wrongs, 
In  vindication  of  a  cause,  to  draw 
The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  Gideon — oh,  that  seems 
The  flower  and  top  of  life." 

It  is  suggestive  of  the  chaos  of  the  times  that  the  narrative 
soon  swings  away  from  Gideon,  the  astute  and  courageous 
vindicator  of  a  cause,  to  Samson,  the  joking  Hercules,  who 
likes  to  tie  foxes*  tails  together,  and  a  firebrand  to  the  joined 
tails,  to  burn  the  fields  of  his  enemies,  God's  enemies. 

This  man  is  not  interested  to  win  "the  flower  and  top  of 
life."  He  will  sleep  awhile,  and  then  go  and  shake  himself 
as  at  other  times,  and  think  up  some  new  riddles,  some  new 
deviltry. 

Sixth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

6.  The  Weak  Giant 

Read  Judges    14  to    16   for  character  study,  and   for   better 
understanding  of  the  times. 

The  story  of  Samson  has  furnished  much  food  for  thought 
to  the  small  boys  of  many  centuries.  On  the  housetops  in 
the  hours  of  leisure,  Hebrew  fathers  would  tell  their  children 
of  the  old  days,  when  there  was  no  king,  when  every  man 
did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes,  when  Samson  arose, 
the  giant  who  was  so  strong  that  he  could  beat  everything 
and  everyone  but  himself,  "stand  everything  but  temptation." 
A  child  of  prayer,  by  choice  God's  devotee,  the  young  man 
finds  complete  satisfaction  in  exasperating  the  Philistines. 

And  she  said  unto  him.  How  canst  thou  say,  I  love 
thee,  when  thy  heart  is  not  with  me?  thou  hast 
mocked  me  these  three  times,  and  hast  not  told  me 
wherein  thy  great  strength  lieth.  And  it  came  to  pass, 
when  she  pressed  him  daily  with  her  words,  and  urged 

123 


[VI-5]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

him,  that  his  soul  was  vexed  unto  death.  And  he  told 
her  all  his  heart,  and  said  unto  her.  There  hath  not 
come  a  razor  upon  my  head ;  for  I  have  been  a  Nazirite 
unto  God  from  my  mother's  womb :  if  I  be  shaven, 
then  my  strength  will  go  from  me,  and  I  shall  become 
weak,  and  be  like  any  other  man. 

And  when  Delilah  saw  that  he  had  told  her  all  his 
heart,  she  sent  and  called  for  the  lords  of  the  Philis- 
tines, saying.  Come  up  this  once,  for  he  hath  told  me 
all  his  heart.  Then  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  came  up 
unto  her,  and  brought  the  money  in  their  hand.  And 
she  made  him  sleep  upon  her  knees  ;  and  she  called  for 
a  man,  and  shaved  off  the  seven  locks  of  his  head ;  and 
she  began  to  afflict  him,  and  his  strength  went  from  him. 
And  she  said.  The  Philistines  are  upon  thee,  Samson. 
And  he  awoke  out  of  his  sleep,  and  said,  I  will  go  out 
as  at  other  times,  and  shake  myself  free.  But  he  knew 
not  that  Jehovah  was  departed  from  him. — Judges  i6 : 
15-20. 

The  question  put  to  him  by  Delilah  we  often  ask,  for  a 
better  purpose,  of  the  Samson-like  man:  "Tell  me,  I  pray 
thee,  wherein  thy  great  strength  lieth."  In  antiquity  the  hair 
was  supposed  to  be  a  seat  of  strength;  but  it  may  be  that 
with  Samson,  as  with  the  other  strong  men  of  the  world, 
the  real  seat  of  strength  lay  in  the  fact  that  he  was  God's 
man,  God's  friend.  Let  him  dally  with  the  Philistines,  tell 
his  secrets  to  the  enemies  of  Jehovah,  he  may  not  know  im- 
mediately that  "Jehovah  is  departed  from  him";  he  will  grind 
in  the  prison  house  with  slaves,  "blind,  blind,  irrecoverably 
blind."  In  the  gallery  of  memory,  one  may  well  hang  a 
picture  of  the  big,  blind,  blundering  giant,  whose  hair  has 
grown  again,  whose  thought  is  of  vengeance  and  of  God; 
who  feels  cautiously  for  the  pillars  of  the  house,  beneath  and 
upon  whose  roof  are  crowds  of  his  enemies  and  God's; 
who  strengthens  himself  with  one  last  prayer  that  in  his 
death  he  may  kill  those  who  have  defied  his  God.' 

Samson  is  not  to  be  thought  of  as  a  judge  in  the  modern 

6  It  is  strange  to  consider  that  the  town  of  Gaza,  with  its  traditions  of  the 
old  giant,  now  carrying  off  the  city  gates,  now  grinding  in  the  city  prison, 
has  been  in  our  own  day  (1917)  the  scene  of  fierce  conflicts  between  Turkish 
and  British  armies. 

124 


CONQUEST  AND  CHAOS  [VI-6] 

sense  of  the  term.  He  seems  rather  to  have  been  a  crude 
and  boisterous  "hero"  of  the  time.  His  story  well  illustrates 
the  prevalent  social  chaos,  the  frequent  subjection  of  the 
Hebrew  clansmen  to  their  neighbors,  and  the  strange  mingling 
of  devotion  with  unbridled  passion  and  violence,  which  charac- 
terized the  average  Israelite. 

II.  THE  WAYS  OF  RELIGION 
Sixth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

I.  The  Cruelty  of  Religion 

And  Joshua  said  unto  Achan,  My  son,  give,  I  pray 
thee,  glory  to  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  and  make 
confession  unto  him;  and  tell  me  now  what  thou  hast 
done ;  hide  it  not  from  me.  And  Achan  answered 
Joshua,  and  said.  Of  a  truth  I  have  sinned  against 
Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  and  thus  and  thus  have  I 
done :  when  I  saw  among  the  spoil  a  goodly  Babylonish 
mantle,  and  two  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  and  a  wedge 
of  gold  of  fifty  shekels  weight,  then  I  coveted  them, 
and  took  them ;  and,  behold,  they  are  hid  in  the  earth 
in  the  midst  of  my  tent,  and  the  silver  under  it. 

So  Joshua  sent  messengers,  and  they  ran  unto  the 
tent;  and,  behold,  it  was  hid  in  his  tent,  and  the  silver 
under  it.  And  they  took  them  from  the  midst  of  the 
tent,  and  brought  them  unto  Joshua,  and  unto  all  the 
children  of  Israel ;  and  they  laid  them  down  before 
Jehovah.  And  Joshua,  and  all  Israel  with  him,  took 
Achan  the  son  of  Zerah,  and  the  silver,  and  the  mantle, 
and  the  wedge  of  gold,  and  his  sons,  and  his  daughters, 
and  his  oxen,  and  his  asses,  and  his  sheep,  and  his  tent, 
and  all  that  he  had:  and  they  brought  them  up  unto  the 
valley  of  Achor.  And  Joshua  said.  Why  hast  thou 
troubled  us?  Jehovah  shall  trouble  thee  this  day.  A^nd 
all  Israel  stoned  him  with  stones ;  and  they  burned 
them  with  fire,  and  stoned  them  with  stones.  And  they 
raised  over  him  a  great  heap  of  stones,  unto  this  day; 
and  Jehovah  turned  from  the  fierceness  of  his  anger. 
Wherefore  the  name  of  that  place  was  called^  The  valley 
of  Achor,  unto  this  day. — Josh.  7:  19-26. 

Of  the  pitiless  character  of  the  early  wars  of  conquest  we 
have   already   spoken.     The   story   of   the    Salem   witchcraft 

125    . 


[VI-6]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

delusion  is  a  little  window  through  which  we  may  look  out 
upon  the  landscape  of  the  law  and  life  of  our  own  fore- 
fathers ;  so  the  story  of  Achan  opens  out  upon  large  ranges 
of  the  religious  life  of  the  Israelites  in  the  early  days  of  their 
experience'  in  Canaan.  In  a  moment  of  temptation  a  man 
stole  a  wedge  of  gold  and  a  Babylonish  garment.  He  was 
stoned  to  death,  all  his  family  and  all  his  cattle  were  de- 
stroyed, yes,  and  the  very  tent  he  dwelt  in.  Such  was  the 
solidarity  of  the  family  and  such  the  sin  of  stealing  from 
Jehovah  the  "devoted  thing"  that  Jehovah's  anger  could  be 
appeased  only  by  the  slaughter  of  the  sinner  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  all  that  might  be  dear  to  him.  We  shall  see  how 
Israel  was  extricated  from  the  cruelty  of  this  type  of  thought. 
But  even  as  we  note  the  cruelty,  we  are  bound  to  note  as  well 
the  passionate  religious  conviction  lying  behind  the  cruelty : 
"We  are  Jehovah's  people.  The  defeat  of  Jehovah's  people 
is  not  due  to  the  strength  of  the  enemy,  but  to  treachery 
within  the  camp."  Among  the  unthinking  populace  this  con- 
viction would  become  mere  superstition :  "God  must  prosper 
us,  if  we  perform  the  ceremonies  of  his  cult."  Among  the 
loftier  souls  of  Israel,  this  passionate  conviction  would  issue 
in  the  mastery  of  life  through  trustful  surrender  to  Jehovah. 

Another  tragic  illustration  of  the  prevalent  cruelty  of 
religion  is  given  us  in  the  story  of  Jephthah's  daughter 
(Judges  ii:3ofif.),  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made 
(p.  50).  A  vow  whose  performance  would  violate  every 
sentiment  of  humanity  and  fatherly  love  must  be  performed. 
It  seems  as  if  the  thought  of  the  Deuteronomic  command 
were  always  in  the  minds  of  the  early  Hebrews :  "That  which 
is  gone  out  of  thy  lips  thou  shalt  observe  and  do ;  according 
as  thou  hast  vowed  unto  Jehovah  thy  God"   (Deut.  23:23). 

2.  The  Crudity  of  Religious  Conceptions 

Read  Judges  17  and  18,  which  show  that  the  early  Hebrews 
were  not  lacking  in  humor,  even  if  they  were  lacking  in 
some  of  the  finer  graces. 

•  126 


CONQUEST  AND  CHAOS  [VI-6] 

In  Judges  17  and  18  we  have  a  delightfully  humorous  story, 
which  gives  us  almost  certainly  the  religious  atmosphere 
which  was  breathed  by  the  common  people  in  the  days  of 
social  chaos," 

A  certain  man,  Micah,  had  stolen  a  considerable  sum  of 
money  from  his  mother.  Troubled  by  his  mother's  curse 
upon  the  unknown  thief,  he  confessed.  The  lady  was  so 
delighted  with  her  son's  sudden  honesty  that  she  "took  two 
hundred  pieces  of  silver,  and  gave  them  to  the  founder,  who 
made  thereof  a  graven  image  and  a  molten  image :  and  it 
was  in  the  house  of  Micah."  Micah  at  first  installed  one 
of  his  own  sons  as  priest  in  his  house  of  gods.  But  after  a 
while,  a  young  Levite,  or  theolog,  if  you  will,  as  he  searched 
for  a  "position,"  found  his  way  to  Micah's  house.  Micah 
made  him  his  house-chaplain.  Some  raiding  Danites — also 
Hebrews,  it  will  be  observed — carried  off  the  several  objects 
of  worship.  They  also  cheerfully  suggested  to  the  young 
chaplain :  "Go  with  us,  and  be  to  us  a  father  and  a  priest :  is  it 
better  for  thee  to  be  priest  unto  the  house  of  one  man,  or 
to  be  priest  unto  a  tribe  and  a  family  in  Israel?"  And  the 
priest's  heart  was  glad !  A  religion,  this,  which  is  by  no 
means  free  from  idolatry,  which  is  ignorant  or  oblivious  of 
the  second  commandment  of  the  decalogue,  a  religion  which 
finds  still  in  the  image  "the  focus  of  divine  powers,"  a  reli- 
gion which  has  little  to  do  with  the  higher  ethics,  either  in 
priest  or  people.  The  Danites^  raid  a  land  because  it  is  large 
and  because  the  people  are  quiet  and  secure.  They  want  the 
images  because  they  want  God  to  be  with  them  in  their 
plundering  excursions.  The  priest  goes  with  the  robbers 
because  they  offer  him.  a  better  job.  A  crude  religion,  but 
with  the  crudity  of  youth,  which  is  better  than  the  decay  of 
senility. 


6  "The  nucleus  of  the  story  is  evidently  of  great  age,  and  the  events  it  de- 
scribes may  be  assigned  with  some  confidence  to  the  generation  after  the 
invasion  of  Joshua." — H.  B.  D.  Ill,  p.  358. 

7  The  story  may  interest  the  compiler  as  explaining  the  origin  of  the  sanctuary 
at  Dan,  one  of  the  shrines  most  dangerous  to  the  prophetic  type  of  Jehovah 
worship. 

127 


[VI-7]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

Sixth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

3.  Compromise  with  the  Canaanites 

Not  seldom  the  conquerors  of  a  country  have  been  them- 
selves conquered  by  the  culture  of  the  country.  The  Ca- 
naanites, with  their  city  kings,  w^ith  their  diplomacy  and 
alliances,  with  their  commerce  and  their  caravans,  with  their 
vineyards  and  olive-yards,  with  their  comparatively  elaborate 
civilization,  their  society  which  was  called  high  "though 
it  had  run  low,"  introduced  the  desert  tribes  of  the  Hebrews 
to  a  new  world  of  wide  horizons  and  great  temptations.  The 
gods  or  baalim  of  the  land  were  there  before  Jehovah.  Was 
not  Jehovah  the  god  of  the  desert  and  the  mountains,  rather 
than  of  the  valleys  and  the  vineyards?  In  India  today  the 
Moslems  will  frequent  Hindu  festivals,  and  will  adopt  Hindu 
superstitions.  At  times  the  Hebrews  worshiped  the  local 
baals  as  well  as  Jehovah.  More  often  they  assimilated 
Jehovah  worship  to  the  worship  of  the  Canaanitish  deities. 
Feasts  and  ceremonies  of  the  "heathen"  cult  were  carried 
over  into  the  Hebrew  worship.  The  shrines  and  symbols  of 
local  deities  became  the  shrines  and  symbols  of  Jehovah. 

Concluding  Note 

The  period,  then,  portrayed  with  striking  veracity  by  the 
book  of  Judges,  with  more  of  idealism  by  the  book  of 
Joshua,  was  one  marked  by  the  entrance  of  the  Hebrews  into 
Canaan,  by  their  conquest  of  considerable  sections  of  the 
country,  and  by  their  frequent  battles  for  tribal  or  national 
existence.  During  this  period,  there  was  a  growth  of  na- 
tional self-consciousness,  accompanied  by  an  increasing  con- 
viction of  the  protection  and  power  of  Jehovah.  There  was 
indeed  a  popular  syncretism,  or  amalgamation,  of  religions, 
in  which  the  ordinary  worshipers  frequently  lost  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  and  the  gods  of 
the  land;  yet  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Sinai,  was  no  longer  a 
stranger  and  a  sojourner  in  Canaan.  In  the  worship  of 
Jehovah  tliere  was  much  of  cruelty  and  more  of  crudity,  but 

128 


CONQUEST  AND  CHAOS  [Vl-q] 

also  mach  of  movement  toward   loftier  conceptions  of   God 
and  of  duty. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  Characterize  the  religious  equipment  of  Israel  on  enter- 
ing Canaan. 

2.  Discuss  the  religious  significance  of  the  victories  of 
Deborah  and  of  Gideon. 

3.  How  would  the  Hebrews  have  justified  their  destruc- 
tion of  their  Canaanitish  enemies? 

4.  Discuss  the  influence  of  Canaanitish  forms  of  worship, 
and  explain  the  religious  compromises  of  the  Hebrews.  Dur- 
ing much  of  its  career  as  ruler,  the  old  East  India  Company, 
while  boasting  of  its  neutrality,  openly  supported  Hindu 
idolatry.  Compare  and  contrast  the  position  of  the  Company 
with  that  of  the  conquering  Hebrews.  Would  you  expect 
England  today  to  be  more  largely  influenced  by  the  religions 
of  India,  or  India  to  be  more  largely  influenced  by  the  reli- 
gion of  England? 

5.  Until  recently  the  Chinese  have  inflicted  punishment  not 
only  upon  the  criminal,  but  upon  his  family.  Could  you 
justify  this  custom?     (Cf.  the  case  of  Achan.) 

6.  Discuss  the  popular  religion  of  the  days  of  the  Judges, 
as  suggested  by  the  story  of  Micah. 

7.  Remembering  that  the  book  of  Judges  was  to  the  Hebrews 
of  the  later  years  a  kind  of  picture  gallery  through  which  they 
often  walked,  what  do  you  think  the  average  Hebrew  boy 
would  have  gained  from  his  reading  of  the  stories  of 
Deborah,  Gideon,  Samson,  Micah? 


129 


CHAPTER  V 

Politics  and  Faith  Nationalized 

Samuel,  Saul,  David 

Introductory 
Seventh  Week,  First  Day, 

In  our  study  thus  far,  we  have  seen  the  Children  of 
Israel  summoned  from  serfdom  into  the  liberty  and  priva- 
tion of  the  wilderness.  We  have  observed  their  slow  and 
partial  achievement  of  national  self-consciousness,  through 
their  common  dangers  and  their  common  devotion  to  their 
God  Jehovah. 

In  the  Land  of  Promise  they  found,  as  we  have  seen,  a 
comparatively  high  civilization.  The  very  name  Canaanite 
was  to  become  another  name  for  "merchant."  It  was  to 
the  temporary  advantage  of  Israel  that  the  Canaanites  suf- 
fered from  the  lack  of  political  unity.  Palestine,  with  its 
coastlands,  its  valleys,  its  highlands,  its  striking  differences 
in  climate,  tended  to  isolate  rather  than  to  unify  social 
groups.  The  lack  of  political  unity  did  not  prevent  the 
tremendous  impact  of  the  Canaanites  upon  their  neighbors. 
The  Philistines  had  gained  territory  from  the  Canaanites, 
but  the  Canaanites  in  turn  gave  laws,  language,  and  reli- 
gion to  their  conquerors.  The  imposing  temples  of  Philistia 
were  temples  of  the  old  Canaanitish  deities ;  the  rites  of 
Philistine  worship  were  the  rites  taught  by  the  Canaan- 
ites. The  gods  which  the  Philistines  took  into  battle  against 
the  Hebrews  were  gods  long  worshiped  by  the  ancient 
people  of  the  land.     This  experience  of  a  strong  and  aggres- 

130 


POLITICS  AND  FAITH  NATIONALIZED    [VII-i] 

sive  people,  who  were  to  give  their  name  (Philistine)  to 
the  whole  land  of  Palestine,  was  an  ominous  portent  for 
Israel.  What  could  a  few  desert  clans,  with  their  outlandish 
worship,  do  against  the  ancient,  established  cults  of  the 
land?  Surely  it  was  most  important  for  the  invaders  to 
keep  peace  with  the  gods  of  the  invaded  territory.  Cen- 
turies later,  when  Assyria  conquered  northern  Israel,  the 
new  settlers  in  the  land  were  troubled  by  lions,  and  they 
"spake  to  the  king  of  Assyria,  saying,  The  nations  which 
thou  hast  carried  away,  and  placed  in  the  cities  of  Samaria, 
know  not  the  law  of  the  god  of  the  land :  therefore  he  hath 
sent  lions  among  them,  and,  behold,  they  slay  them,  because 
they  know  not  the  law  of  the  god  of  the  land"  (II  Kings 
17:26). 

As  the  Israelites  gradually  passed  from  the  nomad  to  the 
agricultural  life,  how  important  was  it  for  them  to  know 
the  religious  rites  which  would  assure  fertility  to  the  land 
and  abundance  to  the  harvests !  It  is  to  be  noted,  moreover, 
that  the  Canaanitish  worship  was  imposing  and  alluring. 
There  were  elaborate  shrines  with  famous  and  ancient  altars. 
Each  shrine  had  its  asherah — apparently  a  wooden  post  or 
mast — and  its  massebah,  or  sacred  stone.  Each  shrine  had 
its  priest  or  priests,  who  performed  their  rites  with  passion- 
ate sincerity,  gashing  themselves  with  knives  as  they  cried 
to  their  gods.  Sacred  prostitution  was  permitted  and  en- 
couraged. Probably  the  most  cherished  deities  were  the 
local  representatives  of  the  goddess  Astarte,  the  deity 
of  fertility  and  reproduction.  The  baal  of  a  town  or  region 
was  the  consort  of  the  goddess.  There  were  well-known 
oracles,  soothsayers,  and  wizards,  who  could  lift  the  veil 
of  mystery  which  ever  hung  closely  about  the  life  of  the 
Hebrew. 

In  this  chapter,  we  study  certain  early  experiences  of  the 
faith  of  Israel  in  the  land  of  the  baalim,  and  watch  the 
swift  rise  of  the  Hebrew  tribes  to  national  unity  under  the 
leadership  of  Samuel  the  king-maker  and  of  the  first  two 
kings  of  Israel. 

131 


[VII-i]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

I.  The  New  Faith  in  Old  Canaan 

The  period  of  conquest  and  chaos  was  almost  inevitably 
a  period  of  religious  compromise.  Jehovah  naturally  be- 
came the  God  of  any  bit  of  territory  which  his  worshipers 
conquered — the  baal,  the  possessor  or  lord  of  the  land;  but 
Jehovah  might  wisely  be  worshiped  according  to  the  old 
and  well-tried  rites  of  the  Canaanites.  As  the  Hebrews  won 
more  and  more  of  the  land,  Jehovah  entered  the  ancient 
shrines,  as  it  were,  by  the  front  door,  while  the  old  faith 
lingered  in  the  inner  and  most  sacred  recesses  of  the  holy 
places.  Breasted  suggests  that  the  Canaanites  got  their  promi- 
nent noses  from  the  Hittites,  with  whom  they  largely  inter- 
married, and  that  "as  the  Hebrews  intermarried  with  the 
Canaanites,  they  received  enough  Hittite  blood  to  acquire 
the  Hittite  type  of  face."  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain 
that  such  intermarriages  were  very  common.  The  "Mosaic" 
laws  frequently  and  with  good  reason  condemn  these  alliances. 
Women  have  always  been  the  conservators  of  religion.  It 
has  been  said  of  the  women  of  India  that  they  are  enamored 
of  their  chains.  A  Canaanitish  woman  would  not  readily 
surrender  the  gods  of  her  own  country  at  the  behest  of  a 
husband,  with  his  worship  of  a  "foreign"  god ;  nor  would  she 
joyfully  instruct  her  children  in  the  ways  of  Jehovah. 

The  story  of  four  centuries  of  Hebrew  life  is  the  story 
of  the  slow  and  painful  extrication  of  Israel's  faith  from 
the  serpent  coils  of  the  Canaanitish  and  kindred  cults.  Very 
brilliantly  does  George  Adam  Smith  compare  and  contrast 
the  story  of  the  Philistines  with  that  of  Israel. 

"Both  Philistines  and  Hebrews  were  immigrants  into  the 
land  for  whose  possession  they  fought  through  centuries.  .  .  . 
Both  absorbed  the  populations  they  found  upon  it.  Both  suc- 
ceeded to  the  Canaanite  civilization,  and  came  under  the 
fascination  of  the  Canaanite  religion.  .  .  .  Yet  Israel  sur- 
vived, and  the  Philistine  disappeared.  Israel  attained  to  a 
destiny,  equalled  in  the  history  of  mankind  only  by  Greece 
and  Rome,  whereas  all  the  fame  of  the  Philistine  lies  in 
having  served  as  a  foil  to  the  genius  of   the   Hebrews,  and 

132 


POLITICS  AND  FAITH  NATIONALIZED    [VII-2] 

today  his  name  against  theirs  is  the  symbol  of  impenetrable- 
ness  and  obscurantism." 

Seventh  Week,  Second  Day. 

2.  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  Saul 

Read  rapidly  I  Sam.  i  to  8,  noting  especially  the  political 
conditions  out  of  which  the  monarchy  arose  and  the  reli- 
gious conditions,  revealed  by  the  stories  of  Eli,  his  sons, 
Hannah,  and   Samuel. 

As  we  enter  the  books  of  Samuel,  we  find  ourselA^fes  slowly 
emerging  from  the  anarchy  of  the  days  of  the  book  of 
the  Judges.  The  Philistines  of  the  maritime  plain,  strong 
in  infantry  and  in  chariots,  had  brought  Israel  very  low ;  but 
here  and  there  were  people  of  the  land,  who,  like  Hannah, 
sought  Jehovah  with  pure  prayer  and  tried  to  rear  their 
families  in  his  fear.  Hannah's  son,  Samuel,  a  man  of  God, 
who  ministered  at  a  high  place  in  the  land  of  Zuph  (I  Sam. 
9:5),  was  one  of  those  who  felt  the  need  of  the  hour.  A 
young  man,  coming  with  his  servant  to  inquire  concerning 
certain  strayed  asses,  was  recognized  by  Samuel  as  the  man 
whom  God  would  choose  for  the  kingship.  Head  and 
shoulders  above  the  rest  of  the  people,  Saul  commended 
himself  to  the  seer  not  less  by  his  modesty  than  by  his 
stature."^ 

Now  Jehovah  had  revealed  unto  Samuel  a  day 
before  Saul  came,  saying.  To-morrow  about  this  time 
I  will  send  thee  a  man  out  of  the  land  of  Benjamin, 
and  thou  shalt  anoint  him  to  be  prince  over  my  people 
Israel;  and  he  shall  save  my  people  out  of  the  hand 
of  the  Philistines:  for  I  have  looked  upon  my  people, 
because  their  cry  is  come  unto  me.  And  when  Samuel 
saw  Saul,  Jehovah  said  unto  him.  Behold,  the  man  of 
whom  I  spake  to  thee!  this  same  shall  have  authority 


1  The  narrative  of  I  and  II  Sam.  is  made  up  of  several  different  strata  of 
very  ancient  material,  much  of  which  has  been  worked  over  by  a  writer  who 
was  supremely  interested  in  the  religious  teaching  of  Israel's  history.  There 
are  two  almost  complete  narratives  of  the  stories  of  Saul  and  Samuel  and  their 
relations  to  David.  The  two  accounts  of  Saul's  appointment  as  king  differ 
in  their  incidents  and  in  their  attitude  toward  the  kingship. 


[VII-2]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE   OF  ISRAEL 

over  my  people.  Then  Saul  drew  near  to  Samuel  in 
the  gate,  and  said,  Tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  where  the  seer's 
house  is.  And  Samuel  answered  Saul,  and  said,  I  am 
the  seer ;  go  up  before  me  unto  the  high  place,  for  ye 
shall  eat  with  me  to-day :  and  in  the  morning  I  will  let 
thee  go,  and  will  tell  thee  all  that  is  in  thy  heart.  And 
as  for  thine  asses  that  were  lost  three  days  ago,  set  not 
thy  mind  on  them ;  for  they  are  found.  And  for  whom 
is  all  that  is  desirable  in  Israel?  Is  it  not  for  thee, 
and  for  all  thy  father's  house?  And  Saul  answered  and 
said.  Am  not  I  a  Benjamite,  of  the  smallest  of  the  tribes 
of  Israel?  and  my  family  the  least  of  all  the  families 
of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin?  wherefore  then  speakest  thou 
to  me  after  this  manner?  .  .  . 

Then  Samuel  took  the  vial  of  oil,  and  poured  it  upon 
his  head,  and  kissed  him,  and  said,  Is  it  not  that  Je- 
hovah hath  anointed  thee  to  be  prince  over  his  in- 
heritance?— I  Sam.  9:  15-21;  10:  I. 

Saul  soon  showed  himself  worthy  of  leadership  by  his 
daring  rescue  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jabesh-gilead  (I  Sam. 
11).  Saul  did  not  exercise  a  very  effective  rule  over  all 
the  tribes;  but  his  strength  and  audacity  drew  after  him 
many  men,  "whose  hearts  God  had  touched"  with  the  patriot- 
ism which  is  akin  to  religion.  Successful  warfare  bound 
the  people  more  closely  to  their  king.  "The  enemy  makes 
the  nation." 

The  records  reveal,  however,  the  growing  popularity  of  a 
young  man  of'judah,  who  won  the  beautiful  and  sacrificial 
friendship  of  Saul's  son,  and  won  at  the  same  time  the  insane 
jealousy  of  Saul  himself.  The  documents  leave  us  in  some 
uncertainty  as  to  the  course  of  David's  early  career ;  but  they 
linger  lovingly  upon  various  incidents.  Now  we  see  David, 
the  neglected  shepherd  boy,  learning  lessons  of  courage  from 
the  wild  beasts,  and  lessons  of  harmony  from  the  stars. 
Now  we  see  him  playing  the  harp  before  Saul  to  quiet  "the 
evil  spirit  from  Jehovah."  Now  we  see  him  slaying  the  giant 
with  the  smooth  stone  from  the  brook,  and  teaching  the 
young  men  of  all  time  not  to  strive  to  strut  around  in  Saul's 
armor.  Now  we  hear  the  women  singing,  "Saul  hath  slain 
his  thousands,  and  David  his  tens  of  thousands."     Again  we 

^34 


POLITICS  AND  FAITH  NATIONALIZED    [VII-3] 

see  David  avoiding  the  javelin  of  Saul;  again  swearing  an 
oath  of  eternal  friendship  with  Jonathan.  The  narratives 
dwell  at  length  upon  David's  flight  and  outlawry  in  the  days 
when  he  was  chased  as  a  partridge  through  the  wilderness. 
We  read  of  his  strange  sojourn  in  the  court  of  the  "heathen" 
Philistine  king,  Achish  of  Gath ;  of  his  marriage  to  the 
shrewd  and  gracious  woman  Abigail.  But  as  our  interest 
cejiters  increasingly  upon  David,  we  must  not  forget  the 
son  of  Saul,  whose  utter  self-abnegation  as  a  friend  was 
matched  by  his  dauntless  heroism  as  a  soldier.  Nor  may  we 
forget,  though  we  remember  with  a  compassion  too  near 
neighbor  to  contempt,  the  last  days  of  Saul.^ 

Seventh  Week,  Third  Day. 

And  Samuel  said,  Though  thou  wast  little  in  thine 
own  sight,  wast  thou  not  made  the  head  of  the  tribes 
of  Israel?  And  Jehovah  anointed  thee  king  over 
Israel;  and  Jehovah  sent  thee  on  a  journey,  and  said, 
Go,  and  utterly  destroy  the  sinners  the  Amalekites, 
and  fight  against  them  until  they  be  consumed.  Where- 
'  fore  then  didst  thou  not  obey  the  voice  of  Jehovah,  but 
didst  fly  upon  the  spoil,  and  didst  that  which  was  evil 
in  the  sight  of  Jehovah?  And  Saul  said  unto  Samuel, 
Yea,  I  have  obeyed  the  voice  of  Jehovah,  and  have  gone 
the  way  which  Jehovah  sent  me,  and  have  brought 
Agag  the  king  of  Amalek,  and  have  utterly  destroyed 
the  Amalekites.  But  the  people  took  of  the  spoil,  sheep 
and  oxen,  the  chief  of  the  devoted  things,  to  sacrifice 
unto  Jehovah  thy  God  in  Gilgal.  And  Samuel  said, 
Hath  Jehovah  as  great  delight  in  burnt-offerings  and 
sacrifices,  as  in  obeying  the  voice  of  Jehovah?  Behold, 
to  obey  is  better  than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken  than  the 
fat  of  rams.     For  rebellion  is  as  the  sin  of  witchcraft, 


2  Main  incidents  in  the  career  of  Saul: 

His  interview  with  Samuel,  and  subsequent  election  as  king.     I  Sam. 

10. 
His  rescue  of  Jabesh-gilead.     I  Sam.  11. 
His  mis^ided  oath  which  almost  procured  the  death  of  Jonathan,  and 

his  failure  to  listen  to  the  best  voice  he  knew.     I  Sam.  14,  15. 
His  insane  jealousy  of  David.     I  Sam.  18  to  23.  26. 
His  consultation  with  the  witch  of  En-dor.      I  Sam.  28. 
His  battle  and  suicide  on  Mount  Gilboa.     I  Sam.  31. 


[VII-3]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

and  stubbornness  is  as  idolatry  and  terap^im.  Because 
thou  hast  rejected  the  word  of  Jehovah,  he  hath  also 
rejected  thee  from  being  king. — I  Sam.  15:  17-23. 

Saul  went  out  to  battle  against  Israel's  implacable  enemy, 
the  Amalekites.  According  to  the  narrative,  Amalek  had  been 
"devoted"  to  absolute  destruction,  because,  in  the  days  of 
wilderness  wandering  long  before,  the  robber  tribe  had 
peculiarly  harassed  the  weary  and  beaten  forces  of  Israel. 
Saul's  campaign  against  Amalek  was  a  success ;  but,  moved 
perhaps  by  cupidity  rather  than  by  charity,  Saul  saved  the 
king  of  the  Amalekites  and  the  best  of  the  spoil.  Samuel 
met  Saul  with  words  of  condemnation  and  rejection.  "And 
Samuel  hewed  Agag  in  pieces  before  Jehovah  in  Gilgal.  .  .  . 
And  Samuel  came  no  more  to  see  Saul  until  the  day  of  his 
death"  (I  Sam.  15:33,  35)- 

The  old  prophet  had  loved  the  brave  and  modest  soldier 
king,  and  had  probably  rejoiced  in  his  appointment  and  in  his 
achievements.  One  document,  indeed,  expresses  the  thought 
that  to  Samuel  the  organization  of  the  kingdom  itself  was  an 
apostasy  from  Jehovah.  Jehovah  himself  was  to  be  the  only 
king  of  Israel.   • 

Whatever  may  have  been  Samuel's  actual  attitude  toward 
the  kingship,  it  is  interesting  to  ask  whether  the  rule  of  a 
king  is  an  advance  upon  a  so-called  theocracy  or  rule  of 
God.  If  Jehovah  is  the  king  of  Israel,  the  problem  at  once 
arises:  Who  shall  interpret  the  will  of  Jehovah?  Who, 
indeed,  but  the  prophet,  the  speaker  for  God?  Now  this  is 
all  very  well,  so  long  as  the  prophet  is  properly  identified, 
and  lives  and  prophesies  correctly.  But  what  if  the  prophet 
dies,  and  leaves  two  sons  to  abuse  his  holy  office?  When 
Jesus  Christ  is  proclaimed  king  of  Florence,  how  is  Florence 
to  know  what  Jesus  Christ  wills  for  the  city?  Surely 
Savonarola  will  interpret  the  will  of  the  unseen,  unheard 
Christ.  But  what  if  Savonarola  misinterpret  the  will  of 
Christ? 

The  thought  that  Israel  should  have  no  other  king  than 
136 


POLITICS  AND  FAITH  NATIONALIZED    [VII-3] 

Jehovah  may  be  the  reflection  of  a  later  age,  which  had  drunk 
deep  of  the  bitterness  of  the  rule  of  a  despot. 

The  estrangement  between  Samuel  and  Saul  led  the  prophet, 
not  to  abandon  the  monarchy  in  favor  of  a  theocracy,  but 
to  seek  and  anoint  a  new  candidate  for  the  kingship,  David. 

Saul  fought  a  series  of  battles  against  Israel's  foremost 
enemy,  the  Philistines.  At  last  "he  gathered  all  Israel  to- 
gether, and  they  encamped  in  Gilboa.  .  ,  .  And  when  Saul 
inquired  of  Jehovah,  Jehovah  answered  him  not,  neither  by 
dreams,  nor  by  Urim,^  nor  by  prophets,"  the  three  ordinary 
means  of  supposedly  divine  communication.  And  now  the 
night  before  the  battle,  we  see  Saul,  in  disguise,  slipping 
away  from  the  camp  to  visit  a  necromancer,  that  she  may 
call  up  his  old  friend-enemy  Samuel  from  the  realm  of  the 
shades.  It  is  all  very  pitiful.  Saul  got  no  comfort  from 
his  communion  with  the  dead.  He  and  his  men  went  away 
in  the  night. 

Now  the  Philistines  fought  against  Israel :  and  the 
men  of  Israel  fled  from  before  the  Philistines,  and  fell 
down  slain  in  mount  Gilboa.  And  the  Philistines  fol- 
lowed hard  upon  Saul  and  upon  his  sons ;  and  the  Phil- 
istines slew  Jonathan,  and  Abinadab,  and  Malchi-shua, 
the  sons  of  Saul.  And  the  battle  went  sore  against 
Saul,  and  the  archers  overtook  him ;  and  he  was  greatly 
distressed  by  reason  of  the  archers.  Then  said  Saul 
to  his  armorbearer,  Draw  thy  sword,  and  thrust  me 
through  therewith,  lest  these  uncircumcised  come  and 
thrust  me  through,  and  abuse  me.  But  his  armor- 
bearer  would  not ;  for  he  was  sore  afraid.  Therefore 
Saul  took  his  sword,  and  fell  upon  it. — I  Sam.  31 :  1-4. 

And  David  lamented  with  this  lamentation  over  Saul 
and  over  Jonathan  his  son  (and  he  bade  them  teach 
the  children  of  Judah  the  song  of  the  bow :  behold,  it 
is  written  in  the  book  of  Jashar)  : 

Thy  glory,  O  Israel,  is  slain  upon  thy  high  places  I 

How  are  the  mighty  fallen ! 

Tell  it  not  in  Oath, 

Publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Ashkelon; 


3  Probably  the  sacred  lot. 


[VII-3]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Lest  the  daughters  of  the  Philistines  rejoice, 

Lest  the  daughters  of  the  uncircumcised  triumph. 

Ye  mountains  of  Gilboa, 

Let  there  be  no  dew  nor  rain  upon  you,  neither  fields  of 

offerings  : 
For  there  the  shield  of  the  mighty  was  vilely  cast  away. 
The  shield  of  Saul,  not  anointed  with  oil. 
From  the  blood  of  the  slain,  from  the  fat  of  the  mighty, 
The  bow  of  Jonathan  turned  not  back, 
And  the  sword  of  Saul  returned  not  empty. 
Saul  and  Jonathan  were  lovely  and  pleasant  in  their 

lives, 
And  in  their  death  they  were  not  divided: 
They  were  swifter  than  eagles, 
They  were  stronger  than  lions. 
Ye  daughters  of  Israel,  weep  over  Saul, 
Who  clothed  you  in  scarlet  delicately, 
Who  put  ornaments  of  gold  upon  your  apparel. 
How  are  the  mighty  fallen  in  the  midst  of  the  battle  I 
Jonathan  is  slain  upon  thy  high  places. 
I  am  distressed  for  thee,  my  brother  Jonathan: 
Very  pleasant  hast  thou  been  unto  me : 
Thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful. 
Passing  the  love  of  women. 
How  are  the  mighty  fallen. 
And  the  weapons  of  war  perished! 

— n  Sam.  1 :  17-27. 

The  exquisite  elegy  attributed  to  David  states  the  essential 
truth  regarding  Saul.  He  was  the  man  for  his  time.  '  He 
became  a  child  of  failure,  because  his  God  was  not  at.  the 
hot  center  of  his  life.  It  is  probably  suggestive  that  in  the 
earliest  days  it  was  Saul's  servant,  not  Saul  himself,  who 
knew  about  the  man  of  God,  of  whom  inquiry  might  be  made 
regarding  the  lost  asses.  As  Saul  pushed  God  off  to  the 
periphery  of  his  life,  jealousy,  fear,  and  superstition  found 
lodgment  at  the  center.  As  he  disobeyed  Samuel,  he  refused 
to  listen  to  the  best  voice  he  knew,  the  voice  of  God's  man. 
He  contributed  to  the  strength  of  the  union  between  tribe 
and  tribe;  but  he  added  little  to  the  strength  of  the  union 
between  the  tribes  and  their  God.  Upon  his  death,  the 
domination  of   the   Philistines  was   almost  undisputed,  while 

138 


POLITICS  AND  FAITH  NATIONALIZED    [VII-4] 

his  great  armor  hung  a  dedicated  trophy  in  the  temple  of  the 
Ashtaroth.  But  Saul  did  not  wholly  fail,  "No  one  ever 
questioned  but  that  the  kingdom  must  continue;  he  had 
proved  its  value  too  well.  .  .  .  Saul  died  on  Gilboa,  but  he 
made  David  possible." 

How  beautiful  to  dream  of  what  might  have  been  if 
David,  the  young  harpist  of  the  soldier  king,  had  been  able 
to  speak  to  God  and  sing  to  Saul,  as  Browning  conceives : 

"Oh,  speak  through  me  now ! 
Would  I  suffer  for  him  that  I  love?     So  would'st  thou — so 

wilt  thou ! 
So    shall    crown    thee    the    topmost,    ineffablest,    uttermost 

crown — 
And  thy  love  fill  infinitude  wholly,  nor  leave  up  nor  down 
One  spot  for  the  creature  to  stand  in !    It  is  by  no  breath, 
Turn  of  eye,  wave  of  hand,   that  salvation  joins  issue  with 

death ! 
As    thy    Love    is    discovered    almighty,    almighty    be    proved 
Thy  power,  that  exists  with  and  for  it,  of  being  Beloved ! 
He  who  did  most,  shall  bear  most;  the  strongest  shall  stand 

the  most  weak. 
'Tis  the  weakness  in  strength,  that  I  cry  for !  my  flesh,  that 

I  seek 
In  the  Godhead !  I  seek  and  I  find  it.    O  Saul,  it  shall  be 
A  Face  like  my  face  that  receives  thee;  a  Man  like  to  me, 
Thou  shalt  love  and  be  loved  by,  for  ever;  a  Hand  like  this 

hand 
Shall  throw  open  the  gates  of  new  life  to  thee!    See  the 

Christ  stand !" 

Saul  never  saw  the  Saviour's  hand  throw  open  the  gates 
of. new  life  to  him.  He  heard  the  women  sing  in  David's 
honor,  saw  his  son  superseded  in  the  esteem  of  men,  saw  him- 
self disowned  by  the  nation's  chief  prophet,  and  heard  his 
doom  pronounced  by  the  necromancies  of  a  witch. 

Seventh  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

3.  David,  His  People  and  His  God 
Read  rapidly  II  Sam.  i  to  7,  studying  the  political  sagacity 

139 


[VII-4]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

of   David,   the    scope   and   limitations   of   his    religion,   and 
the  prevalent  type  of  w^orship,  in  early  days  of  monarchy. 

For  seven  years  and  six  months  David  reigned  over  Judah 
only,  holding  his  throne  at  Hebron,  probably  at  the  pleasure 
of  the  Philistines,  and  by  a  most  uncertain  tenure.  Driven 
by  despair,  rather  than  desire,  the  northern  tribes  at  last 
offered  him  their  allegiance. 

And  the  king  and  his  men  went  to  Jerusalem  against 
the  Jebusites,  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  who  spake 
unto  David,  saying.  Except  thou  take  away  the  blind 
and  the  lame,  thou  shalt  not  come  in  hither ;  think- 
ing, David  cannot  come  in  hither.  Nevertheless  David 
took  the  stronghold  of  Zion ;  the  same  is  the  city  of 
David.  And  David  said  on  that  day.  Whosoever  smit- 
eth  the  Jebusites,  let  him  get  up  to  the  watercourse,  and 
smite  the  lame  and  the  blind,  that  are  hated  of  David's 
soul.  Wherefore  they  say,  There  are  the  blind  and  the 
lame ;  he  cannot  come  into  the  house.  And  David  dwelt 
in  the  stronghold,  and  called  it  the  city  of  David.  And 
David  built  round  about  from  Millo  and  inward.  And 
David  waxed  greater  and  greater ;  for  Jehovah,  the  God 
of  hosts,  was  with  him. — II   Sam.  5  :  6-10. 

The  capture  of  Jerusalem  from  the  Jebusites  was  the  be- 
ginning of  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Hebrews,  and 
in  the  history  of  humanit3^  To  realize  this,  we  need  but 
remind  ourselves  of  the  dramatic  story  of  the  city,  its  sieges, 
its  destructions,  its  resurrections,  its  statesmen,  patriots, 
saviours,  its  friends  and  enemies  within  and  without ;  we 
need  but  remind  ourselves  of  the  days  of  Alexander,  of 
Pompey,  of  the  Crusaders;  the  days  of  Allenby,*  and  of  the 
Zionist  dreamers  of  the  twentieth  century. 

David  made   the  city  his  political  capital,  the   seat  of   his 

*  General  Allenby's  proclamation  to  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  in  1917  read: 
"Since  your  city  is  regarded  with  aiTcction  by  the  adherents  of  three  of  the 
greatest  religions  of  mankind,  and  its  soil  has  been  consecrated  by  the  prayers 
and  pilgrimages  of  multitudes  of  devout  people  of  these  three  religions  for 
many  centuries,  therefore  do  I  make  known  to  you  that  every  sacred  build- 
ing, monument,  holy  spot,  shrine,  traditional  site,  endowment,  pious  bequest, 
or  customary  place  of  prayer  of  whatsoever  form  belonging  to  the  great  re- 
ligions of  mankind  will  be  maintained  and  protected  according  to  the  existing 
customs  and  beliefs  of  those  to  whose  faiths  they  are  sacred." 

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POLITICS  AND  FAITH  NATIONALIZED    [VII-5] 

dynasty,  the  center,  therefore,  to  which  in  times  of  emergency 
the  thoughts  of  tribesmen  far  and  near  would  hasten.  Again, 
David  made  the  city  the  ecclesiastical,  and,  in  a  sense,  the 
religious  capital  of  his  people.  The  ark,  which  had  been 
returned  by  the  superstitious  Philistines,  but  which  for  a 
long  time  had  been  in  comparative  obscurity,  was  brought 
by  David  with  great  rejoicing  into  Jerusalem.  The  ark 
again  became  the  center  of  national  religious  thought.  Priests 
were  appointed  to  care  for  it.  With  lavish  preparations  David 
made  ready  for  the  building  of  the  temple  which  should 
house  the  ark.  A  later  psalmist  voices  the  sober  facts  when 
he  prays : 

Jehovah,  remember  for  David 

All  his  affliction ; 

How  he  sware  unto  Jehovah, 

And  vowed  unto  the  Alighty  One  of  Jacob : 

Surely  I  will  not  come  into  the  tabernacle  of  my  house, 

Nor  go  up  into  my  bed ; 

I  will  not  give  sleep  to  mine  eyes. 

Or  slumber  to  mine  eyelids; 

Until  I  find  out  a  place  for  Jehovah, 

A  tabernacle  for  the  Mighty  One  of  Jacob. 

— Psalm  132:  1-5. 

Of  all  the  men  who  have  given  humanity  a  new  heart, 
David  stands  easily  among  the  first.  As  a  man's  "life  con- 
sists in  relations,"  we  may  study  some  of  the  man's  relation- 
ships : 

Seventh  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

a.  His  foes. 

David's  first  task  as  king  was  to  make  his  kingdom  secure 
against  foes  to  the  east  and  west  and  north.  His  campaigns 
were  cruel  enough.  We  read:  "And  he  smote  Moab,  and 
measured  them  with  the  line,  making  them  to  lie  down  on 
the  ground ;  and  he  measured  two  lines  to  put  to  death,  and 
one  full  line  to  keep  alive.  And  the  Moabites  became  servants 
to   David,  and  brought  tribute"    (H    Sam.   8:2).     Repeated 

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[VII-5]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

victories  knit  more  and  more  firmly  the  fabric  of  Israel's 
national  life.  Discords,  occasions  of  friction,  were  not  lack- 
ing; but  the  tribesmen  knew  that  they  were  the  people  of 
David  and  of  Jehovah. 

b.  His  friends. 

Very  significant  is  the  friendship  between  David  and  Hiram, 
King  of  Tyre.  We  are  entering  a  new  age,  when  as  a 
nation  Israel  can  make  alliances  with  other  peoples — a 
dangerous  privilege. 

David  surrounded  himself  with  a  group  of  guards,  some 
of  whom  were  certainly  Philistine  mercenaries,  who  served 
like  the  "Swiss  guards  at  European  courts."  Some  of  these 
men  he  bound  to  him  by  ties  of  friendship,  beautiful  and 
strong.  At  the  most  sorrowful  crisis  of  David's  career,  when 
he  was  fleeing  from  his  son  Absalom,  Ittai  the  Gittite,  leader 
of  six  hundred  men  of  Gath,  spoke  the  generous  word, 
matched  by  the  generous  deed :  "As  Jehovah  liveth,  and  as 
my  lord  the  king  liveth,  surely  in  what  place  my  lord  the 
king  shall  be,  whether  for  death  or  for  life,  even  there  also 
will  thy  servant  be"   (II  Sam.  15:21). 

One  of  David's  most  remarkable  traits  was  his  power  to 
make  friends  with  men  of  noble  type,  friends  whose  love, 
alas,  he  did  not  always  repay  with  loyalty  (II  Sam.  11:  14- 
25,  but  see  II  Sam.  9:9-13). 

The  relation  of  David  to  Joab  his  general  is  of  peculiar 
interest.  Shrewd,  able,  unscrupulous,  cruel,  Joab  had  no 
hesitancy  in  killing  men  who  stood  in  his  own  way,  or  in  the 
way  of  his  king.  With  cold-blooded  of^ciousness,  he  thrust 
three  darts  through  the  heart  of  Absalom,  as  on  the  day  of 
battle  the  young  rebel  hung  helpless,  caught  in  the  branches 
of  the  oak;  this  though  David  had  given  express  orders  that 
no  harm  should  befall  his  son  (II  Sam.  18:  14).  But  by  his 
complicity  in  David's  plot  against  Uriah,  Joab  got  a  noose 
around  David's  neck.  Whenever  he  chose,  he  pulled  it  tight. 
David  might  struggle  and  strangle,  and  pray  for  mercy;  he 
did  what  Joab  wanted  him  to  do.     Never  till  the  day  of  his 

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POLITICS  AND  FAITH  NATIONALIZED    [VII-6] 

death    did    David    escape    the    noose    which    he    himself    had 
placed  in  Joab's  hand. 

c.  His  family. 

Read  rapidly  II  Sam.  14  to  19,  to  be  reminded  of  Absalom's 
rebellion,  and  its  sequel.  Note  David's  defects  and  virtues, 
and  any  indications  of  the  royal  and  popular  religion. 

And,  behold,  the  Cushite  came;  and  the  Cushite  said, 
Tidings  for  my  lord  the  king;  for  Jehovah  hath 
avenged  thee  this  day  of  all  them  that  rose  up  against 
thee.  And  the  king  said  unto  the  Cushite,  Is  it  well 
with  the  young  man  Absalom?  And  the  Cushite  an- 
swered, The  enemies  of  my  lord  the  king,  and  all  that 
rise  up  against  thee  to  do  thee  hurt,  be  as  that  young 
man  is.  And  the  king  was  much  moved,  and  went  up 
to  the  chamber  over  the  gate,  and  wept :  and  as  he  went, 
thus  he.  said,  O  my  son  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son 
Absalom!  would  I  had  died  for  thee,  O  Absalom,  my 
son,  my  son! — II  Sam.  18:31-33. 

In  a  beautiful  psalm  we  read,  "I  will  walk  within  my  house 
with  a  perfect  heart"   (Psalm  101:2). 

It  would  have  been  well  for  David  if  he  had  made  and 
fulfilled  a  like  vow.  He  did  not  extricate  himself  from  the 
Oriental  bondage  of  polygamy  and  concubinage.  Indeed,  by 
his  adultery  he  broke  even  the  loose  marital  laws  of  his  age. 
His  treatment  of  his  son  Absalom  was  a  singular  exhibition 
of  strength  and  of  weakness.  The  rebellion  of  Absalom  was 
the  natural  fruitage  of  the  jealousies  and  intrigues  of  the 
king's  family. 

Seventh  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

d.  His  God. 

Why  then  does  history  lavish  praise  upon  the  man?  Why 
did  prophets  of  subsequent  ages  look  forward  to  a  deliverer, 
whom  they  joyed  to  call  the  Son  of  David?  When  every  dis- 
count is  made,  we  must  recognize  in  David  a  man  to  whom 
Jehovah  was  the  central  and  the  summit  fact  of   life.     An 

143 


[VII-6]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

evangelist  asked  a  group  of  young  men,  "What's  the  biggest 
thing  in  your  life?"  The  biggest  thing  in  David's  life  was 
Jehovah,  His  worship  and  His  will. 

Then  said  Abishai  to  David,  God  hath  delivered  up 
thine  enemy  into  thy  hand  this  day :  now  therefore  let 
me  smite  him,  I  pray  thee,  with  the  spear  to  the  earth 
at  one  stroke,  and  I  will  not  smite  him  the  second  time. 
And  David  said  to  Abishai,  Destroy  him  not;  for  who 
can  put  forth  his  hand  against  Jehovah's  anointed, 
and  be  guiltless?  And  David  said.  As  Jehovah  liveth, 
Jehovah  will  smite  him ;  or  his  day  shall  come  to  die ; 
or  he  shall  go  down  into  battle,  and  perish.  Jehovah 
forbid  that  I  should  put  forth  my  hand  against  Je- 
hovah's anointed :  but  now  take,  I  pray  thee,  the  spear 
that  is  at  his  head,  and  the  cruse  of  water,  and  let  us 
go.  So  David  took  the  spear  and  the  cruse  of  water 
from  Saul's  head ;  and  they  gat  them  away :  and  no 
man  saw  it,  nor  knew  it,  neither  did  any  awake ;  for 
they  were  all  asleep,  because  a  deep  sleep  from  Jehovah 
was  fallen  upon  them. — I  Sam.  26:8-12. 

In  the  long  days  of  early  banishment  and  outlawry,  believ- 
ing himself  to  be  the  man  of  destiny,  the  man  of  God's  own 
choosing,  David  steadfastly  refused  to  lay  hands  on  "Jehovah's 
anointed."  Fierce,  eager,  vehement,  he  was  patient  to  wait 
till  God's  hour  for  him  should  strike.  The  supreme  .aspira- 
tion of  the  man's  life  was  that  he  might  build  a  worthy 
sanctuary  to  his  God. 

He  was  cruel.  In  his  vindictiveness,  there  was  a  truly 
Semitic  tenacity.  In  our  study  of  Joseph,  we  have  already 
referred  to  the  story  of  Shimei,  the  blackguard  of  the  house 
of  Saul.  David  seemed  to  forgive  the  man  who  in  the  day 
of  mortal  agony  had  thrown  dust  in  the  air  and  cursed  the 
king.  But  the  record  has  it  that  on  his  very  deathbed,  the 
aged  David  remembered  his  enemy  and  bequeathed  vengeance 
to  his  son  (I  Kings  2:8,  9).  But  even  at  this  point,  he  was 
obeying  not  alone  a  law  of  custom,  but  the  moral  code  dic- 
tated by  the  popular  faith. 

As  David  sought  to  do  God's  will,  his  obedience  became 
144 


POLITICS  AND  FAITH  NATIONALIZED    [VII-6] 

"the  organ  of  spiritual  knowledge,"  knowledge  imperfect  but 
actual.     Three  incidents  may  serve  us : 

First,  a  story  of  the  troublous  days  of  Saul's  jealousy  which 
has  been  rightly  recorded  by  Charlotte  M.  Yonge  in  her  "Book 
of  Golden  Deeds." 

And  three  of  the  thirty  chief  men  went  down,  and 
came  to  David  in  the  harvest  time  unto  the  cave  of 
Adullam ;  and  the  troop  of  the  Philistines  was  en- 
camped in  the  valley  of  Rephaim.  And  David  was  then 
in  the  stronghold ;  and  the  garrison  of  the  Philistines 
was  then  in  Beth-lehem.  And  David  longed,  and  said. 
Oh  that  one  would  give  me  water  to  drink  of  the  well 
of  Beth-lehem,  which  is  by  the  gate !  And  the  three 
mighty  men  brake  through  the  host  of  the  Philistines, 
and  drew  water  out  of  the  well  of  Beth-lehem,  that  was 
by  the  gate,  and  took  it,  and  brought  it  to  David :  but 
he  would  not  drink  thereof,  but  poured  it  out  unto 
Jehovah.  And  he  said.  Be  it  far  from  me,  O  Jehovah, 
that  I  should  do  this :  shall  I  drink  the  blood  of  the 
men  that  went  in  jeopardy  of  their  lives?  therefore  he 
would  not  drink  it.  These  things  did  the  three  mighty 
men. — II  Sam.  22, :  13-17. 

It  was  Palestine's  dry,  hot  season.  David  was  surrounded 
by  his  rude  soldiery,  at  any  time  exposed  to  attack.  "Oh, 
that  one  would  give  me  to  drink  of  the  well  of  Bethlehem 
by  the  gate!"  What  did  David  want?  A  cup  of  H"0? 
No,  but  that  which  the  water  symbolized — the  coolness,  the 
refreshment,  the  balm  of  the  life  and  the  loves  of  his  boy- 
hood. Three  mighty  men  heard  the  wish  of  their  chief.  His 
wish  was  their  command.  "And  the  garrison  of  the  Philis- 
tines was  then  in  Bethlehem."  But  the  three  mighty  men 
made  their  way  to  the  well  of  Bethlehem  by  the  gate,  again 
broke  through  the  Philistine  guard,  and  brought  the  water 
to  David.  The  water  had  become  too  precious  to  drink. 
Surely  water  won  at  the  price  of  blood  must  have  worth 
in  the  eyes  of  God  himself.  Reverently  David  poured  out 
the  water  as  a  libation  unto  Jehovah.  Thus  early  did  this 
one  man  at  any  rate  learn  that  self-forgetful  knightly  service 
for  man  has  value  in  the  sight  of  God.     The  man  who  has 

145 


IVII-6]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

learned  that  has  passed  from  the  religion  of  ritual  into  the 
religion  of  life,  and  is  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  Jesus. 

The  second  illustrative  incident  is  the  interview  of  David 
with  Nathan  the  prophet. 

And  Jehovah  sent  Nathan  unto  David.  And  he  came 
unto  him,  and  said  unto  him.  There  were  two  men  in 
one  city ;  the  one  rich,  and  the  other  poor.  The  rich 
man  had  exceeding  many  flocks  and  herds ;  but  the  poor 
man  had  nothing,  save  one  little  ewe  lamb,  which  he 
had  bought  and  nourished  up :  and  it  grew  up  together 
with  him,  and  with  his  children ;  it  did  eat  of  his  own 
morsel,  and  drank  of  his  own  cup,  and  lay  in  his  bosom, 
and  was  unto  him  as  a  daughter.  And  there  came  a 
traveller  'unto  the  rich  man,  and  he  spared  to  take  of 
his  own  flock  and  of  his  own  herd,  to  dress  for  the 
wayfaring  man  that  was  come  unto  him,  but  took  the 
poor  man's  lamb,  and  dressed  it  for  the  man  that  was 
come  to  him.  And  David's  anger  was  greatly  kindled 
against  the  man ;  and  he  said  to  Nathan,  As  Jehovah 
liveth,  the  man  that  hath  done  this  is  worthy  to  die  : 
and  he  shall  restore  the  lamb  fourfold,  because  he  did 
this  thing,  and  because  he  had  no  pity. 

And  Nathan  said  to  David,  Thou  art  the  man.  Thus 
saith  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  I  anointed  thee  king 
over  Israel,  and  I  delivered  thee  out  of  the  hand  of 
Saul ;  and  I  gave  thee  thy  master's  house,  and  thy  mas- 
ter's wives  into  thy  bosom,  and  gave  thee  the  house  of 
Israel  and  of  Judah;  and  if  that  had  been  too  little,  I 
would  have  added  unto  thee  such  and  such  things. 
Wherefore  hast  thou  despised  the  word  of  Jehovah,  to 
do  that  which  is  evil  in  his  sight?  thou  hast  smitten 
Uriah  the  Hittite  with  the  sword,  and  hast  taken  his 
wife  to  be  thy  wife,  and  hast  slain  him  with  the  sword 
of  the  children  of  Ammon.  Now  therefore  the  sword 
shall  never  depart  from  thy  house,  because  thou  hast 
despised  me,  and  hast  taken  the  wife  of  Uriah  the 
Hittite  to  be  thy  wife.  Thus  saith  Jehovah,  Behold,  I 
will  raise  up  evil  against  thee  out  of  thine  own  house; 
and  I  will  take  thy  wives  before  thine  eyes,  and  give 
them  unto  thy  neighbor,  and  he  shall  lie  with  thy  wives 
in  the  sight  of  this  sun.  For  thou  didst  it  secretly :  but 
I  will  do  this  thing  before  all  Israel,  and  before  the 
sun.  And  David  said  unto  Nathan,  I  have  sinned 
against  Jehovah. — II  Sam.  12:  1-13. 

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POLITICS  AND  FAITH  NATIONALIZED   [VII-6] 

In  shameless  fashion,  the  king  had  defied  the  laws  of  rever- 
ence for  "property,"  for  purity,  for  friendship,  for  life.  One 
has  well  contrasted  the  rugged,  loving,  courageous  David  of 
the  cave  of  Adullam  with  the  soft  and  sensual  David,  who 
has  arrived  and  has  leisure  to  cherish  thoughts  of  lust  and 
murder.  But  when  Nathan  pictured  David's  sin,  and  de- 
nounced him  with  the  word,  "Thou  art  the  man,"  the  king 
made  no  attempt  to  "keep  face,"  but  in  utter  penitence  con- 
fessed :  "I  have  sinned  against  Jehovah."  At  that  season,  if 
not  earlier,  David  saw  that  each  new  wrong  done  to  man  is 
"one  more  insult  to  God." 

Nor  may  we  overlook  one  of  the  striking  incidents  in  con- 
nection with  the  flight  of  David  from  Jerusalem  at  the  time 
of  Absalom's  rebellion.  His  friends  of  the  sanctuary  brought 
out  of  the  city  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  God,  but  the  king 
said :  "Carry  back  the  ark  of  God  into  the  city :  if  I  shall 
find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah,  he  will  bring  me  again, 
and  show  me  both  it,  and  his  habitation"  (II  Sam,  15:25). 
Was  not  the  ark  the  real  dwelling-place  of  Jehovah?  Did 
not  the  presence  of  the  ark  assure  the  presence  of  Jehovah, 
and  therefore  the  victory  of  the  possessor  of  the  ark?  If 
Absalom  could  bear  the  ark  of  Jehovah  to  battle,  could  his 
forces  possibly  be  whipped,  could  justice  really  triumph? 
But  in  the  hour  of  his  agony,  David  rose  far  above  the 
thoughts  of  the  men  of  his  day.  He  knew  that  the  God  he 
loved  was  not  imprisoned  in  the  ark  or  near  it.  He  knew 
that  Jehovah  was  as  strong  to  help  him  when  he  climbed 
wearily  up  the  Mount  of  Olives,  as  when  he  worshiped  before 
the  ark  in  the  sanctuary  of  Jerusalem  (II  Sam.  15:24-29). 

Consistent  in  his  thinking?  No.  Persistent  in  his  fidelity 
to  his  God?  No.  Yet  David  helped  his  age,  and  helps  us 
to  finer  faith,  as  does 

"The  catholic  man,  who  hath  mightily  won 
God  out  of  knowledge,  and  good  out  of  infinite  pain, 
And  sight  out  of  blindness,  and  purity  out  of  a  stain. "^ 


6  Main  incidents  of  David's  career,  as  gathered  from  various  documents: 
His  summons  from  the  sheepfold  by  Samuel.     I  Sam.  16. 


[VII-7]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Seventh  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

Concluding  Note 

The  life  of  Samuel  began  in  a  period  of  civic  confusion  and 
degradation.  While  the  Canaanites  had  been  annihilated,  or 
subdued,  the  Philistines  of  the  coast  dominated  much  of 
Israel's  territory.  They  had  their  officials  and  their  guards 
at  convenient  posts,  to  gather  tribute  and  to  -watch  for  evi- 
dences of  impertinent  independence.  They  rejoiced  in  the 
disunity  of  the  Hebrew  tribes. 

When  David's  life  closed,  the  kingdom  of  Israel  was  a 
fact  which  surrounding  nations  must  reckon  with.  The  tribes 
were  reasonably  united.  The  people  of  the  north  were 
jealous  of  the  primacy  of  Judah ;  but  the  shrewdness  and 
ability  of  David  and  the  increasing  glory  of  his  capital  city 
silenced  objectors.  The  Philistines  were  friendly,  possibly 
having  enough  to  do  to  hold  their  own  against  inroads  from 
Egypt.  A  league  of  friendship  existed  between  the  new  king- 
dom and  the  prosperous  mercantile  kingdom  of  TyrQ. 

When  Samuel's  work  began,  the  religion  and  morals  of  the 
Hebrews  were  at  low  ebb.  The  civilization  and  culture  of 
Canaan  had  begun  their  work.  Jehovah  had  indeed,  in  the 
thought  of  the  multitude,  supplanted  the  baalim  of  such 
territory  as  had  been  conquered ;  but  Jehovah,  now  the 
supreme  baal  or  lord,  must  be  worshiped  in  a  way  har- 
monious with  the  religious  fashions  approved  by  the  past. 
Thus  a  most  dangerous  amalgamation  of  faiths  resulted.    For 


His  victory  over  Goliath.     I  Sam.  17. 

His  friendship  with  Jonathan.     I  Sam.  18,  20. 

His  persecution  at  the  hands  of  Saul.     I  Sam.  19  to  24,  26. 

His  relations  with  Nabal  and  Abigail.     I  Sam.  25. 

His  life  among  the  Philistines.     I  Sam.  27,  29. 

His  appointment  as  king  of  Judah.     II  Sam.  2. 

His  kingship  over  all  Israel.     II  Sam.  3  to  5:5. 

His  capture  of  Zion.     II  Sam.  S:6fT. 

His  victories.     II  Sam.  5,  7,  8,  10. 

His  plans  for  the  ark  and  the  temple.     II  Sam.  6  and  7. 

His  sin  against  Uriah.     II  Sam.  11  and  12. 

His  experiences  and  activities  at  the  time  of  Absalom's  rebellion.     II  Sam. 

IS  to  19. 
His  selection  of  Solomon  as  his  successor.     I  Kings  i :  28fl. 

148 


POLITICS  AND  FAITH  NATIONALIZED    [Vll-q] 

Hebrew  and  for  Philistine,  the  ark  was  both  symbol  and 
seat  of  deity.  When  Eli  saw  the  lips  of  Hannah  move  in 
prayer  he  had  no  better  explanation  than  that  she  was  drunk 
with  wine.  Worship  at  Jehovah's  altar  ministered  to  ecclesi- 
astical greed  and  graft. 

Did  the  days  of  Saul  and  David  witness  any  important 
moral  and  religious  uplift?  At  first,  it  would  seem  that 
there  was  little  advance.  David  to  the  last  appears  to  be 
a  worshiper  of  Jehovah  whose  worship  is  consistent  with 
cruelty.  But  the  period  was,  after  all,  characterized  by  great 
achievements  in  the  realm  of  religion  and  morals.  Jerusalem 
was  regarded  as  one  of  the  oldest  seats  of  the  religion  of 
Jehovah.  Upon  Mount  Moriah  Abraham  had  won  his  tri- 
umph of  faith.  The  increasing  importance  of  Jerusalem 
tended  to  diminish  the  importance  of  local  shrines,  which 
were  ever  tempting  their  votaries  to  immoral  rites  and  im- 
moral lives. 

Again,  David's  undivided  devotion  to  Jehovah  had  a  power- 
ful influence  upon  his  contemporaries.  He  was  Jehovah's 
king,  Jehovah's  warrior.  Every  friendship  he  cemented  by 
a  covenant  of  Jehovah.  Every  military  success  he  won  for 
the  greater  glory  of  Jehovah.  And  David's  character,  while 
far  from  stainless,  tended,  as  both  warning  and  example, 
to  purify  the  morals  of  the  people. 

We  have  thus  studied  one  of  the  most  significant  periods 
of  Israel's  history. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  How  would  you  explain  the  fact  that  the  Philistines 
perished,  while  the  Hebrews  survived  to  become  benefactors 
of  humanity?  Consider  in  your  answer  the  geographical  situ- 
ation of  each  people  and  its  relative  political,  economic,  and 
religious  assets. 

2.  Characterize  the  worship  of  Jehovah  at  Shiloh  in  the 
early  days  of  Samuel. 

149 


[Vll-q]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

3.  Would  you  regard  the  institution  of  the  kingship  as 
marking  a  civic  advance  or  decline? 

4.  Characterize  briefly  Saul,  David,  and  Jonathan. 

5.  State  briefly  the  political,  ethical,  and  religious  achieve- 
ments of  Israel  in  the  days  of  Samuel,  Saul,  and  David. 

6.  In  what  sense  does  the  enemy  make  the  nation? 

7.  If  you  had  the  power  to  nominate  a  certainly  success- 
ful candidate  for  the  presidency,  would  you  choose  an  ir- 
religious man  of  transcendent  ability  and  patriotism,  or  a 
religious  man  of  equal  patriotism,  but  more  modest  ability? 
Justify  your  answer. 

8.  Do  you  think  it  would  have  been  better  for  David 
to  drink  the  water  brought  to  him  at  the  cost  of  grievous 
sacrifice?     Why  or  why  not? 

9.  William  Blake  writes : 

"I  will  not  cease  from  mental  fight. 
Nor  shall  my  sword  sleep  in  my  hand. 
Till  we  have  built  Jerusalem 
In  England's  green  and  pleasant  land." 

What  ideal  does  the  poet  cherish?     Who  or  what  would  be 
his  foes  in  his  mental  fight? 


150 


CHAPTER  VI 

Prosperity,  Despotism,  and 
Disintegration 

Solomon,  Rehoboam,  and  Jeroboam  I. 

Introductory 
Eighth  Week,  First  Day. 

For  centuries  after  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  the  life  and 
religion  of  the  Canaanites  profoundly  influenced  the  Hebrews. 
The  book  of  Judges  makes  it  clear  that  the  annihilation  of 
the  earlier  population  (Josh.  lo :  40)  was  slow  and  partial. 
In  the  local  shrines  of  Israel  there  were  many  remnants  of 
idolatry.  As  Jehovah  supplanted  a  local  baal,  he  assumed, 
to  the  popular  mind,  the  aspects  of  that  baal.  "Many  a  town 
of  Italy  at  the  present  day  would  not  for  a  moment  identify 
its  particular  madonna  with  the  virgin  of  any  other  town." 
In  the  petty  shrines,  as  well  as  in  the  central  sanctuary,  there 
were  probably  arks,  which  were  held  very  sacred,  and  were 
employed  in  divination.'' 

But  as  Jehovah  took  over  the  rights  and  privileges  of  one 
conquered  baal  and  another,  there  was  a  distinct  advance  of 
thought.  "With  one  deity  gathering  to  himself  the  attributes 
of  all  other  personifications  of  natural  powers,  the  tendency 
inevitably  sets  in  to  dissociate  Yahwe  from  any  particular 
personification."  The  exaltation  of  Jerusalem,  of  its  ark 
and  sanctuary,  did  much  to  further  a  truer  conception  of  God. 
The  capital  became  increasingly  the  magnet  of  thought  and 


1  W.  R.  Arnold,  "Ephod  and  Ark." 


[VIII- 1]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

the  object  of  pilgrimage.  Thus,  even  to  the  ignorant  devotees 
of  the  countryside,  the  local  shrines  and  representations  of 
Jehovah  lost  their  supremacy.  The  unification  of  the  nation 
under  David,  too,  fostered  the  conception  of  the  one  great 
God,  ruler,  protector,  champion  of  all  the  Hebrews. 

Our  present  chapter,  while  brief,  is  very  important,  as  it 
covers  the  period  in  which  the  united  kingdom  flourished 
and  fell ;  the  period  in  which  was  built  the  temple,  upon  whose 
foundations  should  rest  Israel's  greatest  joys  and  hopes  and 
loves. 

I.  The  Strength  and  the  Weakness  of  Solomon 

Read  rapidly  I  Kings  3  to  8  to  become  better  acquainted  with 
the  book,  and  to  appreciate  the  importance  of  the  temple 
in  the  thought  of  the  Hebrews.  Note  especially  "Solomon's 
Prayer." 

The  building  of  the  temple  was  a  task  of  sovereign  impor- 
tance to  statecraft  and  religion.  To  this  task,  David's  son 
Solomon  set  himself  with  utter  devotion  and  with  complete 
success. 

In  the  fourth  year  was  the  foundation  of  the  house 
of  Jehovah  laid,  in  the  month  Ziv.  And  in  the  eleventh 
year,  in  the  month  Bui,  which  is  the  eighth  month,  was 
the  house  finished  throughout  all  the  parts  thereof,  and 
according  to  all  the  fashion  of  it.  So  was  he  seven 
years  in  building  it. — I  Kings  6:^7,  38. 

In  his  great  undertaking  he  won  the  cooperation  of  Hiram, 
King  of  Tyre. 

The  writer  of  I  Kings  8  puts  into  the  lips  of  Solomon  a 
prayer  of  dedication,  which  is  one  of  the  noblest  expressions 
of  Hebrew  religion. 

The  completion  of  the  temple  was  but  one  evidence  of  the 
growing  prosperity  of  the  state.  Commerce  flourished ;  trade- 
routes  to  north  and  south  were  guarded  and  controlled  to 
the   advantage   of    Israel.     For   the    first   time    the    Hebrews 

152 


PROSPERITY  AND  DISINTEGRATION  [VIII-i] 

joined  in  enterprises  which  carried  them  in  merchant  vessels 
to  foreign  ports. 

And  king  Solomon  made  a  navy  of  ships  in  Ezion- 
geber,  which  is  beside  Eloth,  on  the  shore  of  the  Red 
Sea,  in  the  land  of  Edom.  And  Hiram  sent  in  the 
navy  his  servants,  shipmen  that  had  knowledge  of  the 
sea,  with  the  servants  of  Solomon.  And  they  came  to 
Ophir,  and  fetched  from  thence  gold,  four  hundred  and 
twenty  talents,  and  brought  it  to  king  Solomon. — 
I  Kings  9 :  26-28. 

It  has  been  said  of  Solomon  that  he  maintained  by  diplo- 
macy what  his  father  had  won  by  the  sword.  But  the  prac- 
tical democracy  of  David's  day  was  being  transformed  into 
a  typical  Oriental  despotism.  Forced  labor,  the  corvee,  was 
established  (I  Kings  9:20-22.  Cf.  I  Kings  5:13-18).  So 
harsh  was  the  control  of  this  forced  labor  that  shortly  after 
Solomon's  death  the  man  in  charge  of  the  levy  was  stoned 
to  death  by  his  victims  (I  Kings  12:18).  The  land  itself 
was  apparently  divided  without  regard  to  the  old  tribal 
boundaries,  for  the  purpose  of  taxation,  that  ample  luxuries 
might  flow  to  the  king's  table. 

Still  more  significant  for  our  purpose  is  the  fact  that  the 
increasing  commercial  interests  of  the  country  led  to  foreign 
alliances,  and  these  in  turn  to  foreign  marriages.  According 
to  the  book  of  Kings,  the  Pharaoh  himself  gave  his  daughter 
to  Solomon  in  marriage.  Other  foreign  wives  were  added 
to  the  king's  harem.  The  foreign  wives  must  bring  with  them 
their  fathers'  gods.  Traders  from  other  nations  must  have 
in  Jerusalem  their  own  shrines.  With  grandiose  and  ill- 
timed  hospitality,  Solomon  welcomed  and  housed  the  deities 
of  other  lands ;  "and  his  heart  was  not  perfect  with  Jehovah 
his  God."  The  record  has  it  that  Solomon  himself  was 
carried  away  into  polytheism. 

And  he  had  seven  hundred  wives,  princesses,  and 
three  hundred  concubines ;  and  his  wives  turned  away 
his  heart.  For  it  came  to  pass,  when  Solomon  was  old, 
that  his  wives  turned  away  his  heart  after  other  gods ; 

153 


[VIII-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

and  his  heart  was  not  perfect  with  Jehovah  his  God, 
as  was  the  heart  of  David  his  father.  For  Solomon 
went  after,  Ashtoreth  the  goddess  of  the  Sidonians, 
and  after  Milcom  the  abomination  of  the  Ammonites. 
And  Solomon  did  that  which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of 
Jehovah,  and  went  not  fully  after  Jehovah,  as  did 
David  his  father.  Then  did  Solom.on  build  a  high  place 
for  Chemosh  the  abomination  of  Moab,  in  the  mount 
that  is  before  Jerusalem,  and  for  Molech  the  abomina- 
tion of  the  children  of  Ammon.  And  so  did  he  for  all 
his  foreign  wives,  who  burnt  incense  and  sacrificed 
unto  their  gods. — I  Kings  11:3-8. 

Actual  heathen  worship  in  high  quarters  must  have  cor- 
rupted the  religion  and  the  priesthood  of  Jehovah  at  the 
heart.  It  is  an  extraordinary  fact  that  the  places  of  "heathen" 
worship  built  by  Solomon  remained  practically  undisturbed 
in  Jerusalem  for  three  hundred  years,  until  at  last  they  were 
destroyed  by  the  reforming  zeal  of  Josiah. 

And  the  high  places  that  were  before  Jerusalem, 
which  were  on  the  right  hand  of  the  mount  of  cor- 
ruption, which  Solomon  the  king  of  Israel  had  builded 
for  Ashtoreth  the  abomination  of  the  Sidonians,  and 
for  Chemosh  the  abomination  of  Moab,  and  for  Milcom 
the  abomination  of  the  children  of  Ammon,  did  the 
king  defile.  And  he  brake  in  pieces  the  pillars,  and  cut 
down  the  Asherim,  and  filled  their  places  with  the  bones 
of  men. — II  Kings  23 :  13,   14. 

And  God  gave  Solomon  wisdom  and  understanding 
exceeding  much,  and  largeness  of  heart,  even  as  the 
sand  that  is  on  the  sea-shore  And  Solomon's  wisdom 
excelled  the  wisdom  of  all  the  children  of  the  east,  and 
all  the  wisdom  of  Egypt.  For  he  was  wiser  than  all 
men ;  than  Ethan  the  Ezrahite,  and  Heman,  and  Calcol, 
and  Darda,  the  sons  of  Mahol :  and  his  fame  was  In  all 
the  nations  round  about.  And  he  spake  three  thousand 
proverbs;  and  his  songs  were  a  thousand  and  five. 
And  he  spake  of  trees,  from  the  cedar  that  is  in  Le- 
banon even  unto  the  hyssop  that  springeth  out  of  the 
wall :_  he  spake  also  of  beasts,  and  of  birds,  and  of 
creeping  things,  and  of  fishes.  And  there  came  of  all 
peoples  to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  from  all  kings 
of  the  earth,  who  had  heard  of  his  wisdom.— I  Kings 
4 :  29-34- 

154 


PROSPERITY  AND  DISINTEGRATION  [VIII-2] 

Posterity  extolled  the  wisdom  of  the  temple-builder,  but 
it  is  probable  that  the  wisdom,  at  any  rate  of  his  later  years, 
was  rather  the  shrewdness  of  the  keen  observer,  who  makes 
epigrams,  writes  proverbs,  lives  "near  the  church,  far  from 
God."  His  despotic  regime  sowed  the  seeds  of  disruption 
and  corruption  in  civic  and  religious  life.  Had  Solomon's 
successor  been  endowed  with  common  sense  rather  than  royal 
idiocy,  he  might  have  built  upon  Solomon's  foundations  of 
empire  a  glorious  superstructure.  As  it  was,  the  "Golden 
Age"  of  Solomon  paved  the  way  for  the  ruin  of  the  state. 

Eighth  Week,  Second  Day. 

2.  Rehoboam's  Folly  :  Northern  Israel's  Revolt 

Read  I  Kings  12,  the  narrative  of  the  king  who  ought  to  have 
prayed,  "God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  fool !" 

And  the  king  answered  the  people  roughly,  and  for- 
sook the  counsel  of  the  old  men  which  they  had  given 
him,  and  spake  to  them  after  the  counsel  of  the  young 
men,  saying,  My  father  made  your  yoke  heavy,  but  I 
will  add  to  your  yoke :  my  father  chastised  you  with 
whips,  but  I  will  chastise  you  with  scorpions.  So  the 
king  hearkened  not  unto  the  people ;  for  it  was  a  thing 
brought  about  of  Jehovah,  that  he  might  establish  his 
word,  which  Jehovah  spake  by  Ahijah  the  Shilonite  to 
Jeroboam  the  son  of  Nebat. 

And  when  all  Israel  saw  that  the  king  hearkened  not 
unto  them,  the  people  answered  the  king,  saying.  What 
portion  have  we  in  David?  neither  have  we  inheritance 
in  the  son  of  Jesse :  to  your  tents,  O  Israel :  now  see 
to  thine  own  house,  David.  So  Israel  departed  unto 
their  tents.  But  as  for  the  children  of  Israel  that  dwelt 
in  the  cities  of  Judah,  Rehoboam  reigned  over  them. — 
I  Kings  12:  13-17. 

In  the  days  of  David,  the  tribes  had  been  held  together  with 
difficulty.  It  was  an  easy  thing  for  a  Benjamite  to  blow  his 
trumpet,  and  draw  after  him  numbers  of  the  northern  clans 
by  the  simple  announcement,  "We  have  no  portion  in  David, 
neither  have  we  inheritance  in  the  son  of  Jesse :  Every  man 

155 


[\^III-2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

to  his  tents,  O  Israel."  David's  swiftness  of  mind  and 
Joab's  swiftness  of  action  had  doubtless  saved  the  kingdom 
at  that  time  (II  Sam.  20).  Solomon  had  suppressed  rather 
than  cured  tendencies  to  revolt.  Upon  his  death,  representa- 
tives of  the  northern  tribes,  headed  by  Jeroboam,  asked  of  the 
new  king  Rehoboam  that  he  make  less  grievous  the  yoke 
put  upon  them  by  his  father.  Rejecting  the  advice  of  the 
elder  statesmen  of  the  realm,  the  young  fop  consulted  his 
dear  familiar  friends,  and  "answered  the  people  roughly." 

Speaking  of  the  Great  War,  and  its  beginning,  a  writer 
says:  "Then  came  the  28th  of  June.  A  man  and  woman  were 
struck  down  in  a  hill  town  of  Bosnia.  It  was  the  pistol 
shot  which  started  the  race  for  Hell.  Events  tumbled  one 
another  down  like  ninepins  .  .  .  and  in  the  opening  days  of 
August,  men  by  the  million  were  marched  to  slaughter." 
Rehoboam  played  his  part  on  a  much  smaller  stage  than  the 
assassin  of  Sarajevo,  but  his  rough  answer  set  events  tumbling 
one  another  down.  A  king  who  could  have  better  played  the 
role  of  court  fool  changed  the  course  of  the  religious  history 
of  the  world. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  American  War  for  Independence 
was  not  a  revolution;  it  was  resistance  to  revolution.  George 
III  had  been  seeking  to  reyolutionize  the  English  system  of 
government,  and  our  fathers  resisted.  Jeroboam's  rebellion 
was  resistance  to  revolution,  or  at  most,  a  "conservative  revo- 
lution," due  to  the  despotism  of  Solomon,  which  had  torn 
the  ancient  privileges  of  freemen  from  the  Israelites  of  the 
north,  a  despotism  now  to  be  accentuated  by  Rehoboam. 

From  this  time  on  for  two  centuries  the  ten  northern  tribes, 
known  as  the  Kingdom  of  Israel,  pursued  their  own  life, 
now  opposed,  now  allied  to  the  Kingdom  of  Judah  in  the 
south.  Judah  "seems  to  have  consisted  simply  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah  with  very  little  of  Benjamin."  The  Southern  King- 
dom "held  not  over  half  the  territory  of  her  northern  neigh- 
bor, and  about  one  fourth  of  the  arable  land." 

But  we  need  not  spend  too  much  pity  upon  little  Judah. 
She  had  certain  great  assets,  which  writers  have  noted : 

156 


PROSPERITY  AND  DISINTEGRATION  [VIII-3] 

a.  She  had  a  reasonably  homogeneous  population,  and  a 
country  well  guarded  by  mountain  and  desert  barriers  from 
the  inroads  of  invaders.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fertile  plains 
of  northern  Israel  were  a  standing  invitation  to  ruthless 
nomad  hordes,  to  arrogant  Syrian  neighbors,  and,  later,  to 
the  monstrous  forces  of  Assyria;  a  standing  invitation  as 
well  to  the  more  dangerous  because  more  seductive  heathen 
cults. 

b.  Judah  had  "a  persistent  Davidic  dynasty"  which  soon 
began  to  gather  about  itself  great  memories  and  greater  hopes. 

c.  Most  important  of  all,  she  had  Jerusalem,  the  old 
political  and  'religious  capital  of  all  Israel,  where  were  the 
throne  of  David  and  the  throne  of  deity,  the  sacred  ark, 
the  temple,  "the  place  of  the  soles  of  Jehovah's  feet." 

Our  studies  call  us  for  a  time  to  the  Northern  Kingdom. 

Eighth  Week,  Third  Dayj 

3.  The  Northern  Kingdom  :  Jeroboam's  Fateful 
Decision 

Read  I  Kings  12:25-14:16,  for  the  story  of  Jeroboam,  and 
the  prophetic  attitude  toward  him. 

And  Jeroboam  said  in  his  heart.  Now  will  the  king- 
dom return  to  the  house  of  David:  if  this  people  go  up 
to  offer  sacrifices  in  the  house  of  Jehovah  at  Jerusalem, 
then  will  the  heart  of  this  people  turn  again  unto  their 
lord,  even  unto  Rehoboam  king  of  Judah ;  and  they 
will  kill  me,  and  return  to  Rehoboam  king  of  Judah. 
Whereupon  the  king  took  counsel,  and  made  two  calves 
of  gold;  and  he  said  unto  them,  It  is  too  much  for  you 
to  go  up  to  Jerusalem  :  behold  thy  gods,  O  Israel,  which 
brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  And  he  set 
the  one  in  Beth-el,  and  the  other  put  he  in  Dan.  And 
this  thing  became  a  sin ;  for  the  people  went  to  worship 
before  the  one,  even  unto  Dan.  And  he  made  houses 
of  high  places,  and  made  priests  from  among  all  the 
people,  that  were  not  of  the  sons  of  Levi.  And  Jero- 
boam ordained  a  feast  in  the  eighth  month,  on  the  fif- 
teenth day  of  the  month,  like  unto  the  feast  that  is  in 
Judah,  and  he  went  up   unto  the  altar;   so   did  he  in 

157 


[VIII-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Beth-el,  sacrificing  unto  the  calves  that  he  had  made : 
and  he  placed  in  Beth-el  the  priests  of  the  high  places 
that  he  had  made.  And  he  went  up  unto  the  altar  which 
he  had  made  in  Beth-el  on  the  fifteenth  day  in  the  eighth 
month,  even  in  the  month  which  he  had  devised  of  his 
own  heart :  and  he  ordained  a  feast  for  the  children  of 
Israel,  and  went  up  unto  the  altar,  to  burn  incense. — 
I  Kings  12  :  26-33. 

No  one  could  realize  more  keenly  than  the  able  soldier  and 
ruler  Jeroboam  the  handicaps  of  his  infant  kingdom.  Infancy, 
whether  that  of  persons  or  kingdoms,  has  always  been  counted 
"an  extra-hazardous  occupation."  His  reasoning  seems  to 
have  been  as  follows :  "I  will  try  to  make  my  people  forget 
Jerusalem  by  glorifying  the  shrines  of  Bethel  and  of  Dan. 
Are  not  these  sanctuaries  anciently  dear  to  my  people?  Nay, 
are  there  not  stories  of  Abraham  and  Jacob  themselves 
which  make  the  sanctuary  of  Bethel  more  sacred  even  than 
that  of  Jerusalem?  Then  to  make  the  worship  of  Jehovah 
at  once  concrete  and  natural,  I  will  establish  or  magnify 
altars  on  which  are  the  representations  of  Jehovah  in  the 
semblance  of  a  bull  calf."  Jeroboam  did  not  propose  to  sup- 
plant Jehovah  worship  by  Baal  worship;  far  from  that.  We 
must  never  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  Jeroboam  was  to  the 
last  a  worshiper  of  Jehovah. 

As  you  kneel  down  to  pray  to  your  God,  have  you  never 
found  it  almost  impossible  to  concentrate  your  mind  upon 
your  worship?  Have  you  never  almost  envied  the  churches 
of  other  creeds,  in  which  images  of  Christ  and  of  the 
Madonna  woo  the  undivided  attention  of  the  worshipers? 
How  hard  it  is  to  make  real  to  one's  self  the  invisible  God ! 
What  more  natural  than  that  this  man  Jeroboam,  with  his 
great  problem  of  statesmanship,  should  attempt  to  solve  it 
by  making  God  seem  real  to  His  people  by  a  tangible  symbol ! 
We  must  remember,  too,  that  Jeroboam  in  his  ofifer  of  images 
to  his  people  was  by  no  means  an  innovator.  We  have  seen 
images  in  use  from  the  earliest  days.  The  story  of  Jacob 
speaks  of  teraphim ;  in  the  days  of  the  Judges  images  were 
used  without  offense  in  Jehovah  worship.     When  David  at- 

158 


PROSPERITY  AND  DISINTEGRATION  [VIII-3] 

tempted  to  escape  from  Saul,  his  wife  "Micjhal  took  the 
teraphim,  and  laid  it  in  the  bed,  and  put  a  pillow  of  goat's 
hair  at  the  head  thereof,  and  covered  it  with  the  clothes. 
And  when  Saul  sent  messengers  to  take  David,  she  said, 
He  is  sick"  (I  Sam.  19:  13,  14).  In  Jeroboam's  own  day  and 
for  nearly  two  centuries  longer,  in  Jerusalem  itself  the  brazen 
serpent  received  homage  and  the  odors  of  sacrificial  incense 
(II  Kings  18:4).  If  Jeroboam  chose  to  symbolize  Jehovah 
by  the  image  of  a  calf,  why  complain? 
His  decision  was  perilous. 

a.  The  moment  one  seeks  to  symbolize  deity,  that  moment 
deity  is  limited,  cheapened,  degraded.  The  degradation  be- 
comes debasement  when  the  symbol  is  so  gross  as  that  which 
Jeroboam  chose. 

b.  The  popular  tendency  of  worship  by  means  of  the  image 
is  to  become  actual  image  worship.  The  Hindus  who  have 
been  influenced  by  Christianity  will  tell  you  that  the  images 
of  India  are  but  media  of  worship-apparatus,  if  you  will. 
But  the  ordinary  worshiper  adores  the  deity  who  has  been 
called  down  into  the  idol,  who  sees  through  the  idol's  eyes, 
and  lives  within  the  idol's  form,  and  is  practically  identified 
with  the  idol.'  Jehovah  worshiped  by  means  of  an  image 
becomes  imprisoned,  localized  in  or  near  the  image,  is  essen- 
tially identified  with  the  image.  The  common  people  would 
worship  inevitably  the  Jehovah  of  Dan,  the  Jehovah  of 
Bethel,  or  the  Jehovah  of  some  other  popular  high  place, 
practicing  the  cult  of  "polyjahvism." 

c.  A  man  becomes  like  the  god  he  worships.  If  a  man 
worships  the  image  of  a  beast,  he  becomes  beastly. 

d.  But  we  have  only  partially  explained  the  execrations 
which  all  prophetic  writers  after  Jeroboam  heaped  upon 
his  memory.     We  have  said  that  the  story  of  the   Hebrews 

2  "The  one  great  broad  fact  to  be  clearly  grasped  is  that  to  the  Hindu  each 
idol  is  a  living  personal  god.  The  image  has  been  made  by  human  hands, 
but  the  god  lives  in  it,  using  the  stone  or  metal  body  as  the  human  soul  uses 
the  human  body.  .  .  .  He  listens  to  their  prayers  and  answers  them.  He 
hears  and  speaks,  eats  and  sleeps,  moves  and  acts.  .  .  .  The  villager  goes  to 
the  temple  'to  see  Kali's  face.'  He  believes  he  looks  into  her  own  divine 
eyes." — J.  N.  Farquhar,  "The  Crown  of  Hinduism,"  p.  317. 


[VIII-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

for  centuries  is  the  story  of  their  slow  extrication  from  the 
serpent  coils  of  the  Canaanitish  worship.  Now  the  baalim 
of  the  ancient  faith  of  the  land  were  frequently  represented 
by  images  of  the  bull.  The  worship  was  a  nature  worship, 
sensual,  obscene,  cruel.  Ever  since  the  conquest,  the  most 
serious  danger  to  Hebrew  faith,  and  to  the  kingdom  of  God, 
was  the  seduction  of  this  cult.  Let  Israel  adore  Jehovah  by 
means  of  a  symbol  identical  with  the  symbol  of  Canaanitish 
worship  and  Israel's  God  will  soon  be  assimilated  to  the 
character  of  the  baalim,  confused  in  thought  with  them. 

All  too  soon,  the  priests  who  ministered  at  the  polluted 
altars  of  Bethel  and  Dan  became  themselves  polluted,  and 
the  one  thing  in  Israel  which  had  "survival  value"  was  in 
danger  of  death. 

Concluding  Note 

The  brevity  of  this  chapter  should  not  lose  to  us  the  sense 
of  the  pivotal  character  of  the  events  discussed.  Had  David's 
united  kingdom  been  strengthened  by  two  statesmanlike  suc- 
cessors of  David,  it  might  have  maintained  itself  as  an 
independent  kingdom  for  many  years.  Solomon  was  like 
one  of  Shakespeare's  "little  wanton  boys  that  swim  on 
bladders,"  but  venture  far  beyond  their  depth.  His  high- 
blown pride  at  length  broke  under  him. 

In  the  fifth  year  of  Rehoboam.  Shishak  or  Sheshonk  of 
Egypt  invaded  Palestine ;  he  came  up  against  Jerusalem : 

And  he  took  away  the  treasures  of  the  house  of  Je- 
hovah, and  the  treasures  of  the  king's  house  ;  he  even 
took  away  all:  and  he  took  away  all  the  shields  of  gold 
which  Solomon  had  made.  And  king  Rehoboam  made 
in  their  stead  shields  of  brass,  and  committed  them  to 
the  hands  of  the  captains  of  the  guard,  who  kept  the 
door  of  the  king's  house.  And  it  was  so,  that,  as  oft 
as  the  king  went  into  the  house  of  Jehovah,  the  guard 
bare  them,  and  brought  them  back  into  the  guard- 
chamber. — I  Kings  14  :  26-28. 

It  is  all  highly  characteristic.  So  long  as  the  king  can  make 
a  proper  show,  it  matters  little  whether  the  shields  are  gold 

160 


PROSPERITY  AND  DISINTEGRATION  [Vlll-q] 

or  brass.  With  faded  gentility  he  still  goes  up  to  the  house 
of  Jehovah  and  prays  for  the  welfare  of  the  kingdom,  which 
he  has  brought  to  ruin. 

And  yet  this  cheap  and  tawdry  degenerate  perhaps  did 
not  do  more  to  nullify  the  work  of  Samuel  and  David  than 
did  Jeroboam,  the  leader  of  the  northern  tribes.  Consulting 
the  apparent  interests  of  his  kingdom,  appreciating  the  impor- 
tance of  religion,  missing  the  meaning  of  Israel's  career  and 
destiny,  Jeroboam,  the  shrewd  and  patriotic  ruler,  became 
known  in  subsequent  generations  as  "the  son  of  Nebat,  which 
made  Israel  to  sin."  It  will  be  our  task  to  trace  the  streams 
which  flowed,  in  Judah,  from  the  folly  of  Rehoboam ;  in 
Israel,  from  the  worldly  wisdom  of  Jeroboam. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  What  advance  in  religious  thought  would  you  expect  the 
Hebrews  to  make,  as  they  extended  their  conquests  in 
Canaan  ? 

2.  Vv^hat  facts  give  special  significance  to  the  building  of 
Solomon's  temple? 

3.  How  far  would  you  regard  increase  of  commerce  and 
international  intercourse  as  evidence  of  a  nation's  "success"? 

4.  Why  were  Solomon's  foreign  marriages  specially  danger- 
ous to  the  religious  life  of  Israel? 

5.  Does  the  attitude  of  Solomon  with  reference  to  foreign 
gods  suggest  to  you  the  true  method  of  combining  tolerance 
with  loyalty?  If  you  were  an  English  ruler  in  Egypt,  among 
a  Moslem  people,  would  you  observe  Friday  or  Sunday  as  the 
official  day  of  rest?  Would  you  or  would  you  not  contribute 
to  the  maintenance  of  Moslem  places  of  worship? 

6.  What  was  the  cause  of  the  final  break  between  the 
Northern  and  the  Southern  Kingdom? 

7.  With  special  care  compare  and  contrast  Judah  and  Israel 
from  the  standpoint  of  geography,  government,  and  religion. 

8.  Is  there  anything  wrong  in  the  use  of  images  in  worship? 
If    so,    what?      If    not,    why?      It    is    said    that   a    prominent 

161 


[Vlll-q]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

preacher  in  his  private  prayer  places  before  him  an  empty 
chair,  in  which  he  imagines  Jesus  Christ  to  be  seated.  Would 
you  regard  this  as  a  modern  substitute  for  Jeroboam's  use  of 
images  or  is  it  different?  Point  out  Canaanitish  perils  to 
the  Hebrew  faith,  accentuated  by  Jeroboam's  sanctuaries. 


162 


CHAPTER  VII 

Conflicts  and  Alliances  with  Foreign 
Nations  and  Foreign  Gods 

A  Century  and  a  Half  of  the  Divided 
Kingdom 

Introductory 
Eighth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

Before  a  universal  history  could  be  conceived,  says  a 
writer,  two  ideas  must  take  shape  in  the  minds  of  men: 
first,  the  idea  of  the  unity  of  the  human  race ;  second,  the 
hope  of  a  concerted  movement  toward  a  definite  goal.  "These 
two  ideas  blazed  up  in  early  Hebrew  literature  much  earlier 
than  elsewhere  in  the  history  of  man."^  The  earliest  docu- 
ments of  the  book  of  Genesis  give  us  the  thought  of  the 
unity  of  the  race,  although  we  shall  see  that  some  of  the 
Old  Testament  writers  sadly  forget  the  thought.  All  of  the 
biblical  historians  are  more  or  less  conscious  of  a  movement 
toward  a  definite  goal,  a  divinely  guided  movement,  with 
which  men  may  cooperate  to  their  blessedness,  against  which 
they  may  fight  to  their  ruin.  To  these  narrators,  the  his- 
tory of  Israel  is  strictly  "His  Story,"  the  story  of  Jehovah's 
dealings  with  his  people.  Israel  is  Jehovah's  instrument  for 
the  accomplishment  of  his  will.  One  must  admire  the  moral 
courage  and  religious  confidence  of  the  historians,  who,  after 
setting  down  the  record  of  the  buoyant,  youthful,  hopeful 
days  of  David,  could  set  down  as  well  the  ghastly  facts  which 

1  Adalbert  Merx,  quoted  in  Homiletic  Review. 
163 


[VIII-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

we  have  just  studied:  the  disintegration  of  David's  kingdom; 
the  divorce  of  all  the  northern  tribes  from  David's  capital ; 
the  demoralization  of  northern  Israel  through  acquiescence 
in  Canaanitish   forms  of  worship. 

In  our  present  chapter,  we  shall  follow  these  religious  his- 
torians as  they  make  riecord  of  the  national  life  of  northern 
Israel  and  of  Judah  for  a  period  longer  than  that  between 
the  Revolutionary  War  of  America  and  America's  entrance 
into  the  Great  War.  A  complete  account  of  the  events  of  a 
century  and  a  half  in  both  kingdoms  would  be  unendurably 
tedious.  The  dominant  religious  interest  of  the  narrators 
controlled  their  selection  of  events. 

I.  THE  NORTHERN  KINGDOM 

I.  Omri,  Defender  of  Israel 

Read  I   Kings   i6 : 8-28   for  description  of   northern   Israel's 
early  days  of  civil  strife. 

In  the  thirty  and  first  year  of  Asa  king  of  Judah 
began  Omri  to  reign  over  Israel,  and  reigned  twelve 
years  :  six  years  reigned  he  in  Tirzah.  And  he  bought 
the  hill  Samaria  of  Shemer  for  two  talents  of  silver ; 
and  he  built  on  the  hill,  and  called  the  name  of  the 
city  which  he  built,  after  the  name  of  Shemer,  the 
owner  of  the  hill,  Samaria.  And  Omri  did  that  which 
was  evil  in  the  sight  of  Jehovah,  and  dealt  wickedly 
above  all  that  were  before  him.  For  he  walked  in  all 
the  way  of  Jeroboam  the  son  of  Nebat,  and  in  his  sins 
wherewith  he  made  Israel  to  sin,  to  provoke  Jehovah, 
the  God  of  Israel,  to  anger  with  their  vanities.  Now 
the  rest  of  the  acts  of  Omri  which  he  did,  and  his 
might  that  he  showed,  are  they  not  written  in  the  book 
of  the  chronicles  of  the  kings  of  Israel?  So  Omri 
slept  with  his  fathers,  and  was  buried  in  Samaria ; 
and  Ahab  his  son  reigned  in  his  stead. — I  Kings  16 : 
23-28. 

Stories  of  conspiracy,  drunken  bouts,  and  murder  succeed 
the  narrative  of  Jeroboam."    But  in  887  B.  C.  a  military  genius, 

-  Jeroboam's  son,  Nadab,  was  assassinated,  and  Baasha  the  leader  of  the 
conspiracy  became  king  (I  Kings  15:  25-28).     Elah,  the  son  of  Baasha,  was 

164 


CONFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES         [VIII-4] 

Omri,  founded  a  short-lived  dynasty  in  the  Northern  King- 
dom. 

Consider  Omri's  task: 

a.  His  accession  to  the  throne  was  an  incident  of  civil  war, 
which  did  not  end  with  his  enthronement.  "Then  were  the 
people  of  Israel  divided  into  two  parts :  half  of  the  people 
followed  Tibni  the  son  of  Ginath,  to  make  him  king;  and 
half  followed  Omri.  But  the  people  that  followed  Omri 
prevailed  against  the  people  that  followed  Tibni,  the  son  of 
Ginath:  so  Tibni  died,  and  Omri  reigned"  (I  Kings  16:21, 
22). 

b.  He  had  to  keep  watch  and  ward  continually  against  his 
jealous  kinsmen  to  the  south,  the  Kingdom  of  Judah. 

c.  He  had  enemies  to  the  east  to  be  subdued.  How  well  he 
succeeded  is  indicated  by  the  famous  Moabite  stone,  dis- 
covered in  1868.  This  stone,  "a  slab  of  black  basalt,  six 
inches  high  by  two  feet  wide,"  was  at  once  recognized  by  its 
discoverer  to  be  of  great  interest  and  value ;  but  the  zeal 
of  the  explorer  "aroused  the  suspicions  and  cupidity  of  the 
native  Arabs,  who  imagined  that  they  were  about  to  be  de- 
prived of  a  valuable  talisman,  and  consequently  seized  and 
partly  destroyed  it."  Happily,  squeezes  had  been  made  of  the 
stone.  Many  fragments  were  recovered,  and  placed  in  the 
Louvre  at  Paris.  The  stone  describes  the  victories  of  Mesha, 
king  of  Moab,  who  lived  in  the  days  of  Omri's  son.  Among 
other  significant  sentences  are  these :  "Omri  king  of  Israel 
afflicted  Moab  for  many  days  because  Chemosh  [the  god 
of  Moab]  was  angry  with  his  land.  Omri  took  possession 
of  the  land  of  Mehedeba,  and  it  [Israel]  dwelt  therein  during 
his  days  and  half  his  son's  days,  forty  years;  but  Chemosh 
restored  it  in  my  days." 

d.  To  the  north,  Omri  faced  the  strong  and  hostile  forces 
of    Syria.      Damascus,    the    capital    of    the   kingdom   of    that 


"drinking  himself  drunk,"  and  one  of  his  servants  "Zimri  went  in  and  smote 
him,  and  killed  him"  (I  Kings  16:9.  10).  Zimri  reigned  seven  days.  Omri 
proceeded  to  dethrone  him,  but  Zimri  "perished  in  the  ashes  of  the  royal 
palace,  to  which  he  had  himself  set  fire." 

165 


[VIII-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

name,  must  very  early  have  risen  to  commercial  and  political 
importance.  Muhammad  in  his  day  feared  that  after  seeing 
Damascus  he  would  not  care  for  Paradise.  Even  down  to 
our  own  time  the  ancient  city  has  retained  something  of  its 
old  primacy.  Omri  was  forced  to  come  to  the  best  possible 
terms  with  the  rulers  of  Damascus,  who  compelled  him  to 
make  streets  in  his  new  capital  for  Syrian  merchants  (I 
Kings  20:34).  But  it  is  not  likely  that  the  Syrians  seriously 
oppressed  Omri,  for  both  Syria  and  Israel  were  to  face  a 
new  foe  who  was  to  make  all  local  enmities  seem  trifles  less 
than  light.     That  foe  was  Assyria. 

e.  Just  about  the  time  that  Omri  came  to  the  throne  one 
of  Assyria's  greatest  rulers  began  his  reign  (885  B.  C). 
Asshurnazirpal  "firmly  established  the  rule  of  Assyria  in  the 
northwest  and  the  north,  while  he  extended  his  empire  east- 
wards, and  laid  the  foundations  of  Assyria's  later  supremacy 
in  the  west  on  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean."  When  any 
ruler  chose  to  oppose  the  Assyrian  or  rebel  against  him,  his 
city  was  captured,  he  himself  was  likely  to  be  flayed,  and 
his  skin  to  adorn  the  fortress  walls  of  Nineveh.  The  victor's 
inscriptions  reek  with  blood.  The  world  has  had  to  wait  till 
the  twentieth  century  of  the  Christian  era  to  read,  this  time 
in  the  records  of  Armenian  massacres,  stories  of  such  un- 
speakable cruelty.  News  of  the  Assyrian  spread  swiftly. 
For  the  time  Damascus  and  Israel  escaped  devastation.  But 
Omri's  diplomacy  must  now  sweep  his  little  kingdom  into  the 
bloody  current  of  world  politics. 

Of  Omri's  task,  the  scriptural  narrative  suggests  little.  It 
dwells  upon  two  facts : 

a.  Omri's  building  of  a  new  capital,  Samaria.  "Command- 
ing the  roads  from  Shechem  southwards  to  Esdraelon,  and 
westwards  to  the  coast,  and  situated  within  easy  reach  of  the 
Mediterranean,  no  better  site  could  have  been  selected  for  the 
fortified  capital  of  the  Northern  Kingdom."  Through  the 
succeeding  decades  Samaria  surpassed  Jerusalem  in  political 
importance. 

b.  Omri's  continuance  in  the  sin  of  Jeroboam.     He  "walked 

166 


CONFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES         [VIII-5] 

in  all  the  way  of  Jeroboam  .  .  .  and  in  his  sins  wherewith  he 
made  Israel  to  sin,  to  provoke  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel, 
to  anger  with  their  vanities."  Omri  was  probably  unconscious 
of  any  wrongdoing.  He  was  a  fighter  rather  than  a  thinker, 
a  diplomat  rather  than  a  devotee.  His  God  was  "the  God  of 
things  as  they  are,"  and  the  convenient  shrines  of  Bethel 
and  of  Dan  satisfied,  while  they  demoralized,  the  religious 
instincts  of  the  people. 

Eighth  Week,  Fifth  Day, 

2.  Arab's  International  Problems  and  Policy 

Read  all  of  I  Kings  20  for  prophetic  attitude  toward  Ahab's 
diplomacy. 

Omri  left  to  his  son  Ahab  no  easy  task.  Whether  one 
looked  southward,  eastward,  or  northward,  the  horizon  was 
dark.  Fearing  absorption  by  Syria,  or  annihilation  by 
Assyria,  Ahab  proceeded  to  make  alliances  as  he  could.  Judah 
for  the  time  forgot  her  grievances.  Ethbaal,  king  of  "the 
Sidonians"  (probably  priest  of  Astarte),  leagued  himself 
with  Ahab,  and  gave  to  him  his  daughter,  the  brave  and 
notorious  queen,  Jezebel. 

Ahab  apparently  needed  all  the  alliances  his  diplomacy  could 
procure. 

And  Ben-hadad  the  king  of  Syria  gathered  all  his 
host  together ;  and  there  were  thirty  and  two  kings 
with  him,  and  horses  and  chariots :  and  he  went  up  and 
besieged  Samaria,  and  fought  against  it. — I  Kings  20 :  i. 

Ahab  consented  to  the  Syrian's  first  demands,  but  rejected 
further  and  more  insulting  proposals.  His  message  to  Ben- 
hadad  has  become  proverbial :  "Let  not  him  that  girdeth  on 
his  armor  boast  himself  as  he  that  putteth  it  off"  (verse 
11).  The  forces  of  the  drunken  Syrian  boaster  were  over- 
whelmed ;  but  the  pedants  of  the  court  of  Damascus  had  a 
ready  explanation  of  the  defeat :  "Their  god  is  a  god  of  the 
hills  ...  let  us   fight  against  them  in  the  plain,  and   surely 

167 


[VIII-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

we  shall  be  stronger  than  they"  (verse  22)).  But  Israel  was 
again  victorious.  Ben-hadad's  servants  "said  unto  him,  Be- 
hold now,  we  have  heard  that  the  kings  of  the  house  of 
Israel  are  merciful  kings"  (Query:  How  far  did  their  wor- 
ship of  Jehovah  influence  their  attitude  toward  men?)  :  "let 
us,  we  pray  thee,  put  sackcloth  on  our  loins,  and  ropes  upon 
our  heads,  and  go  out  to  the  king  of  Israel :  peradventure  he 
will  save  thy  life"  (verse  31).  The  inscriptions  of  Semitic 
conquerors  enable  us  to  picture  the  scene.  Ben-hadad,  the 
great  king,  with  his  erstwhile  revelers  and  fellow-drunkards, 
now  adorned  with  sackcloth  and  ropes,  moving  as  in  solemn 
procession,  caught  eagerly  the  words,  "Ben-hadad  .  .  . 
brother."  Those  royal  words  of  Ahab  meant  life.  Soon  the 
two  "brothers"  were  riding  in  Ahab's  chariot,  and  figuring 
out  the  terms  of  a  treaty  agreeable  "all  around."  To  "the 
sons  of  the  prophets,"  this  act  of  kingly  mercy  seemed  weak- 
ness, infamous  and  intolerable.  How  shall  we  account  for 
it?     The  answer  may  be  given  in  one  word,  "Assyria," 

As  has  been  suggested,  the  outstanding  fact  of  the  ninth 
and  eighth  centuries  is  Assyria.  And  the  Assyrians,  with 
their  power  and  their  cruelty,  their  voracity  and  remorseless- 
ness,  dictated  the  policy  of  every  little  nation  within  the 
sweep  of  their  mighty  arms.  It  was  no  time  for  petty 
quarrels,  no  time  for  killing  a  man  who  might  soon  join  the 
king  of  Israel  as  a  victim  of  an  Assyrian  "triumph."  So 
Ahab  may  have  thought.  The  immediacy  of  Ahab's  peril  is 
suggested  by  the  Assyrian  inscription,  which  describes  the 
campaign  of  Shalmaneser  II  in  854  B.  C.  From  the  long 
inscription  we  select  a  few  sentences : 

"From  Argana  I  departed,  to  Qarqar  (Karkar)  I  ap- 
proached ;  Qarqar  his  royal  city  I  wasted,  destroyed,  burned 
with  fire.  One  thousand  two  hundred  chariots,  1,200  saddle- 
horses,  20,000  men  of  Dadda-idri  (that  is,  Ben-hadad  II?), 
of  Damascus;  .  .  .  2,000  chariots,  10,000  men  of  Ahab  the 
Israelite  .  .  .  these  twelve  kings  he  took  to  his  assistance ;  to 
make  battle  and  war  against  me  they  came.  .  .  .  Fourteen 
thousand  of  their  warriors  I  slew  with  arms ;  like  Adad 
I  rained  a  deluge  upon  them,  I  strewed  hither  and  yon  their 

168 


CONFLICTS-  AND  ALLIANCES         [VIII-6] 

bodies  ...  to    kill    themselves    a    great    mass    fled    to    their 
graves."^ 

In  the  days  of  Omri  most  of  the  little  nations  to  the  west 
of  Assyria  had  purchased  safety  by  tribute.  Ahab  tried  the 
method  of  alliance*  and  battle.  The  inscription  loudly  pro- 
claims the  great  slaughter  of  Shalmaneser's  enemies,  but  no- 
where does  it  mention  captives  or  tribute.  Ahab  and  his  con- 
federates were  not  wholly  crushed.  The  inscription  is  pro- 
foundly significant,  as  the  first  indication  that  Ahab's  little 
kingdom  now  hurled  itself  in  actual  battle  against  the  mighty 
empire  of  Assyria. 

In  I  Kings  22  we  find  Ahab  again  fighting  against  Syria, 
this  time  in  league  with  Judah.  Ahab  disguised  himself  so 
that  he  might  not  be  singled  out  and  slain  by  the  enemy.  A 
Syrian  soldier  drew  his  bow  at  a  venture  and  killed  him. 

But  we  turn  back  in  the  story  to  consider  the  aspects  of 
Ahab's  career  which  claim  the  chief  interest  of  the  biblical 
record. 

Eighth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

3.  Ahab  and  Jezebel 

And  it  came  to  pass,  as  if  it  had  been  a  light  thing 
for  him  to  walk  in  the  sins  of  Jeroboam  the  son  of 
Nebat,  that  he  took  to  wife  Jezebel  the  daughter  of 
Ethbaal  king  of  the  Sidonians,  and  went  and  served 
Baal,  and  worshipped  him.  And  he  reared  up  an  altar 
for  Baal  in  the  house  of  Baal,  which  he  had  built  in 
Samaria.  And  Ahab  made  the  Asherah ;  and  Ahab  did 
yet  more  to  provoke  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  to 
anger  than  all  the  kings  of  Israel  that  were  before  him. 
—I  Kings  16:  31-33. 

But  there  was  none  like  unto  Ahab,  who  did  sell 
himself  to  do  that  which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of 
Jehovah,  whom  Jezebel  his  wife  stirred  up. — I  Kings 
21:25. 

3  R.  W.  Rogers,  "History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria"  (an  important  book, 
usually  obtainable  from  public  libraries). 

4  Some  writers  think  of  Ahab  as  compulsory  confederate  of  Damascus. 

160 


[VIII-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

The  problems  of  international  policy  and  of  "national 
self-preservation"  were  of  little  intrinsic  concern  to  the 
writers  of  the  books  of  Kings.  To  them,  diplomatic  success 
spelled  defeat  if  it  diverted  king  and  people  from  exclusive 
devotion  to  Jehovah.  Ih  the  daughter  of  the  priest-king, 
Ahab  found  a  wife  who  joined  immense  influence  with  utter 
indifference  to  morals  and  complete  devotion  to  her  own 
gods.  Soon  Ahab  was  building  a  "house  of  Baal"  and  an 
"altar  of  Baal,"  and  was  supporting  a  horde  of  priests  of 
Baal.  He  evidently  counted  himself  a  worshiper  of  Je- 
hovah. He  gave  his  children  names  compounded  with  the 
name  Jehovah.  According  to  the  record,  however,  Ahab  went 
so  far  as  personally  to  worship  at  the  heathen  altar  (I  Kings 
16:31).  No  ruler  of  Ahab's  time,  outside  of  Palestine, 
would  have  suffered  any  qualms  of  conscience  if  he  had  paid 
homage  to  Jehovah  as  well  as  to  his  own  personal  deities. 
Today  in'  India,  Muhammad  and  Christ  are  cordially  wel- 
comed into  the  ever-increasing  pantheon  of  Hinduism. 
Through  the  centuries,  insistence  upon  the  exclusive  worship 
of  Jehovah  has  aroused  the  antipathy  of  the  "broad-minded." 
Solomon  had  long  ago  given  the  weight  of  his  great  name 
and  example  to  this  "broad-minded"  hospitality  to  foreign 
gods.  When  Ahab  worshiped  at  the  shrine  of  his  wife's 
god,  he  probably  thought  of  it  as  much  and  as  little  as  would 
a  nominal  Protestant  of  today  if  he  should  join  in  the  church 
worship  of  his  Catholic  wife.  .  But  happily  there  were  in 
Ahab's  day  men  who  saw  clearly  that  the  king  was  losing 
to  his  people  their  one  fair  jewel,  and  was  losing  to  him- 
self his  soul. 

A  man's  religion  always  affects  his  relations  with  his  fel- 
lowmen.  Still  in  Israel  the  rights  of  the  people  to  the  lands 
of  their  fathers  were  held  inalienable.  Ahab  desired  a  bit 
of  property  adjoining  his  palace.  He  just  wanted  a  little 
garden;  that  was  all.  He  offered  the  owner  Naboth  a  better 
piece  of  land  or  the  worth  of  his  vineyard  in  money.  But 
with  curious  obstinacy  Naboth  refused  to  sell,  and  proceeded 
to  invoke  the  name  of  Jehovah,  and  "to  get  excited."     Ahab 

170 


CONFLICTS  AXD  ALLIANCES         [VIII-7] 

the  great  diplomat,  himself  so  generous  to  captive  kings  and 
to  heathen  deities,  failed  to  understand  this  act  of  near- 
rebellion  on  the  part  of  Naboth.  He  sulked  upon  his  bed, 
like  a  spoiled  child.  Jezebel  did  not  sulk.  "Dost  thou  now 
govern  the  kingdom  of  Israel?"  (I  Kings  21:7).  False 
witnesses  soon  compassed  Naboth's  death  and  Ahab  arose  to 
go  down  to  his  vineyard  to  possess  it. 

To  the  Jehovah  of  the  Ten  Commandments  Ahab's  high- 
handed murder  would,  of  course,  be  abhorrent.  To  the 
Jehovah  of  the  images  of  Dan  and  Bethel,  Ahab's  act  would 
be  a  peccadillo,  washed  away  by  a  little  blood  or  even  perhaps 
by  a  little  water.  To  a  God  who  could  live  in  hospitable 
proximity  to  deities  of  the  Sidonians,  Ahab  would  be  a  good 
king,  who  knew  how  to  show  his  subjects  their  place,  either 
in  the  field,  in  the  vineyard,  or  in  the  grave. 

Ahab  had  not  paid  for  his  vineyard.  He  was  soon  to 
meet  a  man  who  could  tell  him  precisely  what  he  would  have 
to  pay.  Our  study  now  leads  us  to  a  somewhat  more  care- 
ful inquiry  concerning  the  relations  of  royalty  to  the  prophets. 

Eighth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

4.  Ahab  and  the  Prophets 

a.  Prophetic  Guilds. 

In  the  early  periods  of  Israel's  recorded  history  we  find 
groups  of  men  called  companies  of  prophets.  In  I  Sam.  19 : 
18-24,  we  come  upon  these  men,  going  along  the  country 
roads  with  harp  and  psaltery  before  them.  During  their 
so-called  prophecies,  they  would  lie,  stripped,  in  an  ecstasy 
or  half-stupor,  sometimes  for  a  whole  day  and  night.  These 
dervish-like,  fakir-like  men  were  disliked,  despised,  at  the 
same  time  feared  and  sought  after,  because  through  them 
the  common  people  thought  to  get  their  most  reliable  in- 
formation regarding  the  world  of  mystery  which  ever  sur- 
rounds and  impinges  upon  our  life.  Today  there  are  women 
who  would  not  dream  of  inviting  a  clairvoyant  to  dinner,  who 
in  an  emergency  will  seek  a  clairvoyant     These  "prophets" 

171 


[VlII-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

gathered  in  guilds,  schools,  or  religious  colonies,  around  some 
sanctuary  like  Bethel  or  Gilgal,  where  they  nursed  their  reli- 
gious frenzies  and  their  intense,  narrow,  but  impressive 
patriotism  and  devotion  to  Jehovah.  Representatives  of  these 
prophetic  guilds,  "sons  of  the  prophets,"  played  an  important 
part  in  the  life-story  of  Ahab.  But  Ahab  also  came  into 
contact  with  men  who  have  been  called  the  "false"  prophets. 

b.  "False  Prophets." 

The  "false"  prophets  were  not  prophets  of  false  gods. 
They  were  almost  certainly  members  in  good  and  regular 
standing  of  the  prophetic  guilds;  but  they  were  nationalistic 
prophets,  who  identified  the  interests  of  Jehovah  with  the 
interests  of  the  nation  and  thq  interests  of  the  nation  with 
those  of  Jehovah.  To  them  it  seemed  incredible  that  ruin 
should  befall  the  nation,  for  that  would  mean  the  ruin  of 
Jehovah  himself.  These  prophets  were  doubtless  often 
absolutely  true  to  their  lights.  They  had  the  sure  conviction 
that  the  triumph  of  their  deity  was  inseparable  from  the 
triumph  of  their  dynasty.  But  presuppositions  of  this  sort 
would  naturally  lead  these  prophets  to  an  undiscriminating 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  court.  They  must  not  "love 
the  truth  too  dangerously."  How  easy  it  is  for  patriots  in 
any  age  to  use  with  an  infamous  connotation  the  words, 
"My  country,  right  or  wrong."  In  the  later  days  Ezekiel 
was  to  write  of  prophetesses  who  "slay  the  souls  that  should 
not  die,  and  .  .  .  save  the  souls  alive  that  should  not  live, 
by  your  lying  to  my  people  that  hearken  unto  lies"  (Ezek. 
13:  19).  And  Jeremiah,  writing  a  little  earlier  than  Ezekiel, 
indicates  clearly  the  temptation  and  the  vice  of  nationalistic 
prophets  of  all  time :  "The  prophets  prophesy  falsely,  and  the 
priests  bear  rule  by  their  means ;  and  my  people  love  to  have 
it  so"  (Jer.  5:31).  In  one  episode  Ahab  appears  surrounded 
by  four  hundred  prophets,  who  propose  to  give  him,  not  the 
word  of  some  heathen  deity,  but  "the  word  of  Jehovah," 
and  who  unhesitatingly  urge  upon  Ahab  and  his  ally  the 
campaign  which  they  are  themselves  eager  to  enter. 

172 


CONFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES         [VIII-7] 

And  Jehoshaphat  said  unto  the  king  of  Israel,  In- 
quire first,  I  pray  thee,  for  the  word  of  Jehovah.  Then 
the  king  of  Israel  gathered  the  prophets  together, 
about  four  hundred  men,  and  said  unto  them.  Shall  I 
go  against  Ramoth-gilead  to  battle,  or  shall  I  forbear? 
And  they  said,  Go  up;  for  the  Lord  will  deliver  it  into 
the  hand  of  the  king.  .  .  .  Now  the  king  of  Israel  and 
Jehoshaphat  the  king  of  Judah  were  sitting  each  on  his 
throne,  arrayed  in  their  robes,  in  an  open  place  at  the 
entrance  of  the  gate  of  Samaria;  and  all  the  prophets 
were  prophesying  before  them.  And  Zedekiah  the  son 
of  Chenaanah  made  him  horns  of  iron,  and  said,  Thus 
saith  Jehovah,  With  these  shalt  thou  push  the  Syrians, 
until  they  be  consumed.  And  all  the  prophets  prophe- 
sied so,  saying.  Go  up  to  Ramoth-gilead,  and  prosper ; 
for  Jehovah  will  deliver  it  into  the  hand  of  the  king. 
— I  Kings  22 :  5,  6,  10-12. 

Lowell's  contemporary  might  have  sat  for  a  portrait  of  the 
average  "false"  prophet  of  Ahab's  day : 

"Gineral  C.  is  a  dreffle  smart  man : 

He's  been  on  all  sides  that  give  place  or  pelf  ; 
But  consistency  still  wuz  a  part  of  his  plan, — 
He's  ben  true  to  one  party, — an'  thet  is  himself." 

c.  Prophets  of  ''Baal" 

While  Ahab  regarded  himself  as  a  worshiper  of  Jehovah, 
and,  upon  examination,  could  point  to  the  fact  that  he  was 
supporting  not  less  than  four  hundred  of  Jehovah's  prophets, 
he  "played  safe"  with  his  wife  and  with  the  Tyrian  baal, 
Melkart.  Elijah  declared,  "I,  even  I  only,  am  left  a  prophet 
of  Jehovah;  but  Baal's  prophets  are  four  hundred  and  fifty 
men"  (I  Kings  18:22).  These  prophet-parasites  must  have 
sucked  the  blood  from  the  little  kingdom  of  Israel  during 
the  days  of  famine.  But  there  can  be  little  doubt  of  their 
sincerity  as  well  as  their  fanaticism.  We  can  see  them 
now,  as  they  call  upon  their  god,  leap  about  the  altar,  cut 
themselves  with  knives  and  lances  till  the  blood  gushes  out 
upon  them    (I   Kings    18:25-29). 

But  it  was  Ahab's  good  fortune,  and  ours,  that  he  met 
another  kind  of  prophet. 

173 


[IX-i]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

Ninth  Week,  First  Day. 
d.  Micaiah  and  Elijah. 

The  original  designation  of  the  prophet  was  "seer."  "Be- 
foretime  in  Israel,  when  a  man  went  to  inquire  of  God,  thus 
he  said,  Come,  and  let  us  go  to  the  seer;  for  he  that  is  now 
called  a  Prophet  was  beforetime  called  a  Seer"  (I  Sam. 
9:9). 

The  derivation  of  the  Hebrew  word  "prophet"  is  uncertain. 
Some  have  thought  that  it  comes  from  a  word  meaning  "to 
bubble  forth,"  as  under  inspiration.  Others  have  supposed 
that  the  root  word  means  "to  announce"  or  "to  proclaim." 
We  have  often  been  reminded  that  a  prophet  is  a  forthteller 
rather  than  a  foreteller.  Prediction  is  incidental  rather  than 
essential  to  the  prophet's  task.  A  man  might  utter  no  specific 
prediction,  yet  be  a  very  great  prophet.  "To  have  a  message 
from  God  and  to  deliver  it  to  men,  this  is  the  essence  of 
prophetism."  The  Scripture  narrative  reverently  looks  upon 
Moses  as  a  prophet  (Deut.  18:  18).  Samuel,  the  king-maker, 
and  Nathan,  David's  political  adviser  and  father-confessor, 
are  in  the  foremost  rank  of  the  goodly  company  of  the 
prophets. 

In  Ahab's  time  the  fusion  of  Jehovah  worship  with  Canaan- 
itish  worship,  and  more  especially  the  vicious  hospitality 
shown  by  royalty  to  foreign  deities,  produced  a  glorious 
religious  reaction,  led  by  two  of  the  most  notable  men  in  the 
prophetic  succession,  Elijah  and  Micaiah. 

Of  Micaiah  we  read  only  in  connection  with  the  incident 
to  which  already  reference  has  been  made  (p.  172).  We  find 
in  I  Kings  22:  1-40  the  dramatic  story  of  the  great  but  little- 
known  prophet,  Micaiah.  As  Ahab  and  Jehoshaphat  con- 
ferred about  their  proposed  campaign  for  the  capture  of 
Ramoth-Gilead,  they  sought  "the  word  of  Jehovah."  Four 
hundred  court  prophets  spoke  with  vast  assurance  of  the 
success  of  the  campaign.  The  unanimity  of  the  prophets 
was  to  Jehoshaphat  somewhat  suspicious.     He  had  met  with 

174 


CONFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES  [IX-i] 

,  that  brand  of  unanimity  before,  in  his  own  capital.  "Is  there 
not  here  a  prophet  of  Jehovah  besides,  that  we  may  inquire 
of  him?"  Ahab  had  to  confess  that  there  was  one  such  man; 
but  he  added,  "I  hate  him;  for  he  doth  not  prophesy  good 
concerning  me,  but  evil."  Jehoshaphat  was  not  quite  happy 
until  Micaiah  was  summoned. 

And  the  messenger  that  Went  to  call  Alicaiah  spake 
unto  him,  saying,  Behold  now,  the  words  of  the 
prophets  declare  good  unto  the  king  with  one  mouth : 
let  thy  word,  I  pray  thee,  be  like  the  word  of  one  of 
them,  and  speak  thou  good.  And  Micaiah  said,  As 
Jehovah  liveth,  what  Jehovah  saith  unto  me,  that  will  I 
speak. — I  Kings  22 :  13,  14. 

When  Micaiah  stood  before  the  kings,  he  began,  in  satirical 
imitation  of  the  "false"  prophets,  to  urge  the  campaign.  When 
constrained  to  speak  frankly,  he  flatly  declared  that  the  four 
hundred  prophets  had  a  lying  spirit,  sent  from  Jehovah,  to 
entice  Ahab  to  his  destruction. 

Then  Zedekiah  the  son  of  Chenaanah  came  near, 
and  smote  Micaiah  on  the  cheek,  and  said,  Which  way 
went  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  from  me  to  speak  unto 
thee?  And  Micaiah  said.  Behold,  thou  shalt  see  on 
that  day,  when  thou  shalt  go  into  an  inner  chamber 
to  hide  thyself.  And  the  king  of  Israel  said,  Take 
Micaiah,  and  carry  him  back  unto  Amon  the  governor 
of  the  city,  and  to  Joash  the  king's  son ;  and  say, 
Thus  saith  the  king,  Put  this  fellow  in  the  prison, 
and  feed  him  with  bread  of  affliction  and  with  water 
of  affliction,  until  I  come  in  peace.  And  Micaiah  said. 
If  thou  return  at  all  in  peace,  Jehovah  hath  not  spoken 
by  me.  And  he  said.  Hear,  ye  peoples,  all  of  you. — 
I  Kings  22  :  24-28. 

Ahab  had  met  his  master.  Four  hundred  court  prophets 
of  Jehovah,  hordes  of  priests  and  prophets  of  Melkart, 
courtiers  and  politicians  by  the  score,  eager  to  bring  Judah 
and  Jehoshaphat  into  an  offensive  alliance — all  these  backed 
the  able  and  resourceful  king.  One  is  reminded  of  Luther 
at  Worms,  of  Knox  before  Alary,  Queen  of   Scots.     It  is  a 


[IX-2]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE   OF  ISRAEL 

good  thing  to  remember  Micaiah,  and  to  enter  into  his 
thoughts  as  in  his  prison  he  eats  the  bread  of  affliction  and 
drinks  the  water  of  affliction;  to  enter  into  his  thoughts 
again  as  he  learns  in  the  prisonhouse  of  Ahab's  death,  and 
of  the  miserable,  flight  of  Israel's  warriors.  Did  you  ever 
read  Sill's  poem,  "The  Reformer"? 

"Before  the  monstrous  wrong  he  sets  him  down — 
One  man  against  a  stone-walled  city  of  sin. 
For  centuries  those  walls  have  been  a-building; 
Smooth  porphyry,  they  slope  and  coldly  glass 
The  flying  storm  and  wheeling  sun.     No  chink, 
No  crevice  lets  the  thinnest  arrow  in. 
He  fights  alone,  and  from  the  cloudy  ramparts 
A  thousand  evil  faces  jibe  and  jeer  at  him. 
Let  him  lie  down  and  die :  what  is  the  right. 
And  where  is  justice  in  a  world  like  this? 
But  by  and  by,  earth  shakes  herself,  impatient ; 
And  down  in  one  great  roar  of  ruin,  crash 
Watch-tower  and  citadel  and  battlements. 
When  the  red  dust  has  cleared,  the  lonely  soldier 
Stands   with   strange   thoughts   beneath   the    friendly    stars." 

W^hat  became  of  Micaiah  we  do  not  know.  He  never 
attained  to  much  fame.     Few  Freshmen  ever  heard  of  him ! 

"He  knew  to  bide  his  time. 
And  can  his  fame  abide. 
Still  patient  in  his  simple  faith  sublime. 
Till  the  wise  3-ears  decide." 

Ninth  Week,  Second  Day. 

Read  rapidly  I  Kings  17  and  18 — Elijah  stories,  illuminating 
the  li^e  of  the  prophet  and  his  times. 

Ahab,  statesman  and  general,  had  already  learned  to  know 
and  to  fear  a  man  greater  than  Micaiah,  a  man  whose  name 
is  suggestive  of  his  life,  Elijah  (Jah  is  God).  He  appears 
suddenly  in  the  story  of  the  Bible,  like  Melchizedek,  "with- 
out father  or  mother,"  his  ancestry  unknown,  his  very  birth- 
place uncertain.  One  day,  clothed  with  a  garment  of  hair, 
with  a  girdle  of   leather  about  his   loins,  he   swung  himself 

176 


CONFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES  [IX-2] 

into  the  busy  haunt  of  diplomacy  and  intrigue,  Samaria,  and 
said  unto  Ahab,  "As  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  liveth,  be- 
fore whom  I  stand,  there  shall  not  be  dew  nor  rain  these 
years,  but  according  to  my  word"   (I  Kings  17:  i). 

To  Elijah  the  long  drought  was  the  sure  sign  of  Jehovah's 
displeasure  at  the  Baal-worship  of  the  court.  The  story  fol- 
lows the  man  down  to  the  brook  Cherith  and  thence  to  a 
"heathen"  city,  where  he  was  sustained  by  a  poor  widow,  who 
in  turn  was  blessed  by  the  man  of  God. 

The  drought  pressed  hard  upon  Ahab  and  his  land. 

One  day  he  met  Elijah: 

Is  it  thou,  thou  troubler  of  Israel?  And  he  an- 
swered, I  have  not  troubled  Israel ;  but  thou,  and  thy 
father's  house,  in  that  ye  have  forsaken  the  command- 
ments of  Jehovah,  and  thou  hast  followed  the  Baalim. 
Now  therefore  send,  and  gather  to  me  all  Israel  unto 
mount  Carmel,  and  the  prophets  of  Baal  four  hundred 
and  fifty,  and  the  prophets  of  the  Asherah  four  hun- 
dred, that  eat  at  Jezebel's  table. 

So  Ahab  sent  unto  all  the  children  of  Israel,  and 
gathered  the  prophets  together  unto  mount  Carmel. 
And  Elijah  came  near  unto  all  the  people,  and  said, 
How  long  go  ye  limping  between  the  two  sides?  if 
Jehovah  be  God,  follow  him ;  but  if  Baal,  then  follow 
him.  And  the  people  answered  him  not  a  word.  Then 
said  Elijah  unto  the  people,  I,  even  I  only,  am  left  a 
prophet  of  Jehovah ;  but  Baal's  prophets  are  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men.  Let  them  therefore  give  us  two 
bullocks ;  and  let  them  choose  one  bullock  for  them- 
selves, and  cut  it  in  pieces,  and  lay  it  on  the  wood,  and 
put  no  fire  under ;  and  I  will  dress  the  other  bullock, 
and  lay  it  on  the  wood,  and  put  no  fire  under.  And  call 
ye  on  the  name  of  your  god,  and  I  will  call  on  the  name 
of  Jehovah :  and  the  God  that  answereth  by  fire,  let 
him  be  God.  And  all  the  people  answered  and  said. 
It  is  well  spoken.— I  Kings  18:  \7h-24. 

The  contest  on  Carmel  ended  with  the  complete  vindication 
of  Elijah,  the  "conversion"  of  the  people  to  exclusive  Je- 
hovah worship,  the  ruthless  slaughter  of  the  prophets  of 
Baal.     The  long  vigil   for  the   promised   rain,  the  cloud   "as 

177 


{IX-2]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

small  as  a  man's  hand,"  the  running  of  the  prophet  before 
the  chariot  of  Ahab — these  are  unforgettable  pictures. 

Read  I  Kings  19,  for  the  picture  of  the  prophet's  despondency 
and  its  cure. 

The  triumph  of  Elijah  was  short-lived.  Jezebel,  most  "effi- 
cient" and  malicious  of  women,  vowed  the  prophet's  death. 
Elijah  fled  from  the  woman's  fury,  and  in  the  wilderness, 
under  a  juniper  tree,  prayed  for  death.  "It  is  enough;  now, 
O  Jehovah,  take  away  my  life ;  for  I  am  not  better  than  my 
fathers."  To  the  religious  man  there  is  no  time  so  perilous 
as  that  immediately  after  a  period  of  great  achievement  and 
exaltation.  But  Jehovah  had  further  use  for  his  devotee : 
"Arise  and  eat,  because  the  journey  is  too  great  for  thee." 
"The  journey  is  too  great  for  thee."  Elijah  knew  that  very 
well.  "But,"  we  may  imagine  that  we  hear  him  say,  "my 
God,  dost  thou  know,  dost  thou  care?"  The  message  to 
Elijah  does  not  end  here.  If  God  should  merely  sympathize 
with  us,  we  should  grow  flabby.  "Arise  and  eat."  Where 
God  sympathizes,  God  sustains,  sustains  to  the  journey's  end. 

And  he  came  thither  unto  a  cave,  and  lodged  there ; 
and,  behold,  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  to  him,  and  he 
said  unto  him.  What  doest  thou  here,  Elijah?  And 
he  said,  I  have  been  very  jealous  for  Jehovah,  the  God 
of  hosts ;  for  the  children  of  Israel  have  forsaken  thy 
covenant,  thrown  down  thine  altars,  and  slain  thy 
prophets  with  the  sword :  and  I,  even  I  only,  am  left ; 
and  they  seek  my  life,  to  take  it  away.  And  he  said, 
Go  forth,  and  stand  upon  the  mount  before  Jehovah. 
And,  behold,  Jehovah  passed  by,  and  a  great  and  strong 
wind  rent  the  mountains,  and  brake  in  pieces  the  rocks 
before  Jehovah ;  but  Jehovah  was  not  in  the  wind :  and 
after  the  wind  an  earthquake;  but  Jehovah  was  not  in 
the  earthquake :  and  after  the  earthquake  a  fire ;  but 
Jehovah  was  not  in  the  fire :  and  after  the  fire  a  still 
small  voice.  And  it  was  so,  when  Elijah  heard  it,  that 
he  wrapped  his  face  in  his  mantle,  and  went  out,  and 
stood  in  the  entrance  of  the  cave.  And,  behold,  there 
came  a  voice  unto  him,  and  said.  What  doest  thou 
here,  Elijah?— I  Kings  19:9-13. 

178 


CONFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES  [IX-3] 

The  story  of  the  prophet  at  Horeb  is  one  of  the  most 
suggestive  narratives  of  the  Bible.  EHjah  had  been  the 
prophet  of  the  wind,  the  earthquake,  the  fire.  But  not  in 
the  wind,  nor  in  the  earthquake,  nor  in  the  fire,  was  Jehovah 
to  be  found. 

"Lightning  and  thunder  (heaven's  artillery) 
As  harbingers  before  the  Almighty  fly; 
Those  but  proclaim  his  style,  and  disappear ; 
The  stiller  sound  succeeds,  and  God  is  there  1" 

After  the  fire  came  a  voice  of  gentle  stillness.  And  the 
voice  bade  the  prophet  not  to  lie  down  and  die,  nor  yet  to 
forget  his  trouble  in  solitary  meditation.  "Go,  return  upon 
thy  way.  Not  an  anchorite,  in  gloomy  self-conceit  imagining 
thyself  to  be  my  only  devotee  and  defender  in  Israel,  return, 
and  thou  shalt  discover  seven  thousand  of  my  friends,  whom 
thou  hast  ignored ;  go  back  into  the  world  of  politics,  and  put 
the  fear  of  Jehovah  into  the  hearts  of  statesmen ;  go  back, 
and  lose  thyself  in  the  thought  of  thy  successor  whom  thou 
shalt  anoint  to  carry  on  thy  work." 

Ninth  Week,  Third  Day. 

The  Elijah  stories  make  upon  us  the  impression  that  we 
are  in  the  presence  of  one  of  the  great  pioneers  of  true 
religion. 

For  this  man  there  could  be  no  easygoing  tolerance  of 
other  religions,  no  divided  allegiance,  no  false  liberality  which 
worships  at  every  shrine,  but  yawns  as  it  prays  to  Jehovah. 
For  him  there  could  be  none  of  that  shallowness  which  mis- 
takes itself  for  breadth.  "If  you  want  to  leap  about  Baal's 
altars,  if  you  regard  Baal  as  God,  serve  him.  But  don't 
everlastingly  limp  between  the  two  sides."  He  struck  at  the 
very  heart  of  the  vice  of  many  a  college  Junior,  who  "limps" 
between  agnosticism  and  faith.  He  struck  at  the  heart  of 
the  vice  of  many  a  business  man,  who  "limps"  between 
Mammonism  and  Christianity. 

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[IX-3]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

"God  will  have  all,  or  none ;   serve  Him  or  fall 
Down  before  Baal,  Bel,  or  Belial : 
Either  be  hot  or  cold :  God  doth  despise. 
Abhor  and  spew  out  all  Neutralities." 

Again,  this  man  saw  what  Ahab  ignored,  what  most  of  his 
contemporaries  did  not  see  :  that  devotion  to  Jehovah  cannot 
be  divorced  from  devotion  to  justice.  Professor  Jastrow 
tells  us  that  in  the  ancient  Gilgamesh  story  of  the  Flood, 
there  is  the  implication  that  the  workmen  appropriated  three 
sar  of  asphalt  and  pitch,  and  the  boatman  secreted  two  sar 
of  oil  as  his  share  of  the  graft,  while  building  the  ark  of 
the  hero.  And  in  later  and  better  times  men  have  undertaken 
to  build  the  ark  of  safety  for  democracy,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  provide  against  the  rain  an  ample  waterproofing  of 
the  gains  of  the  profiteer. 

But  even  kings  can't  stifle  the  cry  of  Naboth's  blood. 
In  the  after  days  kings  forgot,  but  the  Hebrew  people  and 
their  prophets  never  forgot,  the  meeting  of  Elijah  with  Ahab, 
when  the  prophet  told  the  king  what  he  would  have  to  pay 
for  that  vineyard  which  his  judicial  murder  had  won  him: 

And  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  to  Elijah  the  Tishbite, 
saying.  Arise,  go  down  to  meet  Ahab  king  of  Israel, 
who  dwelleth  in  Samaria :  behold,  he  is  in  the  vineyard 
of  Naboth,  whither  he  is  gone  down  to  take  possession 
of  it.  And  thou  shalt  speak  unto  him,  saying.  Thus 
saith  Jehovah,  Hast  thou  killed,  and  also  taken  posses- 
sion ?  And  thou  shalt  speak  unto  him,  saying.  Thus 
saith  Jehovah,  In  the  place  where  dogs  licked  the  blood 
of  Naboth  shall  dogs  lick  thy  blood,  even  thine.  And 
Ahab  said  to  Elijah,  Hast  thou  found  me,  O  mine 
enemy?  And  he  answered,  I  have  found  thee,  because 
thou  hast  sold  thyself  to  do  that  which  is  evil  in  the 
sight  of  Jehovah.  Behold,  I  will  bring  evil  upon  thee, 
and  will  utterly  sweep  thee  away  and  will  cut  off  from 
Ahab  every  man-child,  and  him  that  is  shut  up  and  him 
that  is  left  at  large  in  Israel. — I  Kings  21 :  17-21. 

Elijah  taught  the  peasants  of  Israel  that  Jehovah  is  on  the 
side  of  the  oppressed— on  the  side,  not  of  despotism,  but  of 
democracy. 

180 


COXFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES  [IX-3] 

It  has  been  said  of  Elijah  that  he  was  "among  the  greatest 
and  most  original  of  the  Hebrew  prophets ;  indeed  it  is  in 
him  that  Hebrew  prophecy  first  appears  as  a  great  spiritual 
and  ethical  power,  deeply  affecting  the  destiny  and  religious 
character  of  the  nation."  A  most  uncomfortable  man  he  was, 
a  most  uncompromising  man.  Ahab  couldn't  do  a  thing 
with  him.  He  had  a  way  of  answering  back,  which  the  king 
could  not  well  bear.  "Is  it  thou,  thou  troubler  of  Israel? 
.  .  .  I  have  not  troubled  Israel;  but  thou  and  thy  father's 
house"   (I  Kings  18:17,  18). 

"His    eyes   were   dreadful,    for   you   saw 
That  they  saw  God." 

Elijah  is  one  of  the  men  who  have  "ploughed  rather  than 
written"  their  names  in  history.  In  Malachi,  we  have  a 
prediction,  written  centuries  later,  which  looks  forward,  not 
to  some  new  prophet,  but  hopes  that  the  ever  circling  years 
will  bring  back  at  last  the  prophet  of  the  older  day.  "Be- 
hold, I  will  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet  before  the  great 
and  terrible  day  of  Jehovah  come"  (Mai.  4:5).  Of  John  the 
Baptist  it  was  predicted  that  he  should  go  before  the  face 
of  the  Lord  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah.  On  the 
Mount  of  Transfiguration,  the  apostles  saw  in  vision  beside 
their  Master  two  men — the  one,  Moses,  representative  of  the 
Law,  the  other,  Elijah,  representative  of  the  Prophets.  To 
this  day  in  Palestine  the  peasants  think  of  the  prophet  as 
wandering  among  the  caves  on  the  heights  of  Carmel.  Ahab, 
Ben-hadad,   Shalmaneser — 

"Great  captains,  with  their  guns  and  drums, 
Disturb  our  judgment  for  the  hour,  * 

But  at  last  silence  comes," 

And  out  from  the  silence  we  hear  the  voice  of  the  lonely 
man  who  speaks  for  Jehovah,  the  God  before  whom  he 
stands. 

181 


[IX-4J    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

Ninth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

5.  Elisha  and  His  Contemporaries 

Read  II  Kings  i :  1-8,  3,  9,  and  10,  for  insight  into  the  ways 
of  kings  and  prophets  in  EHsha's  time. 

The  successor  of  Ahab  was  unworthy  of  his  name,  Ahaziah 
(J ah  holds,  or  supports).  We  spoke  of  the  "conversion"  of 
Israel  to  exclusive  Jehovah  worship.  We  did  well  to  put 
the  word  conversion  in  quotation  marks,  for  the  conversion 
seems  to  have  been  transient  enough.  Almost  the  only  inci- 
dent recorded  of  Ahaziah  is  this :  that  he  "sent  messengers, 
and  said  unto  them.  Go,  inquire  of  Baal-zebub,  the  god  of 
Ekron,  whether  I  shall  recover  of  this  sickness."  Elijah  sent 
messengers  to  him  to  ask.  "Is  it  because  there  is  no  God  in 
Israel,  that  ye  go  to  inquire  of  Baal-zebub?"  (II  Kings 
1:2,  3)- 

Elisha  prayed  that  he  might  receive  a  double  portion  of  his 
master's  spirit.  He  certainly  needed  it,  for  he  inherited  the 
great  unfinished  task  of  Elijah.  There  were  probably  few 
men  in  Israel  who  felt  any  inconsistency  between  Ahaziah's 
worship  of  Jehovah  and  his  inquiry  of  the  oracle  at  the 
famous  shrine  of  Ekron. 

In  most  respects  Elisha  presents  a  striking  contrast  to  his 
predecessor.  He  is  a  man  of  the  village  and  of  the  city; 
a  courtier,  always  surrounded  by  "the  sons  of  the  prophets," 
by  soldiers  or  emissaries  of  royalty. 

We  see  this  counselor  of  kings  going  with  Jehoram  of 
Israel,  with  Jehoshaphat  of  Judah,  and  with  the  vassal  ruler 
of  Edom,  against  Mesha  of  Moab.  It  is  his  practical  advice, 
given  apparently  under  the  inspiration  of  a  minstrel,  which 
wins  the  battle  for  the  allies. 

Of  rather  sinister  interest  is  the  relation  of  Elisha  to  the 
conspiracy  and  enthronement  of  Jehu,  the  ruthless  murderer 
and  "Defender  of  the  Faith."  The  slaughter  of  the  kings 
both  of  Israel  and  of  Judah,  the  wholesale  killing  of  "all 
that  remained  of  the  house  of  Ahab  in  Jezreel,  and  all  his 

182 


CONFLICTS  AXD  ALLIAXCES  [IX-4] 

great  men  and  his  familiar  friends,  until  he  left  none  re- 
maining" ;  the  hideous  fraud  perpetrated  upon  the  priests  and 
worshipers  of  Baal — all  this  probably  did  not  disturb  the 
conscience  of  Elisha,  as  it  did  not  trouble  the  narrator  of  the 
incidents. 

And  Jehovah  said  unto  Jehu,  Because  thou  hast  done 
well  in  executing  that  which  is  right  in  mine  eyes,  and 
hast  done  unto  the  house  of  Ahab  according  to  all  that 
was  in  my  heart,  thy  sons  of  the  fourth  generation 
shall  sit  on  the  throne  of  Israel. — II  Kings  10 :  30. 

A  century  later  Hosea  was  to  render  a  very  different  verdict 
upon  the  political  and  religious  murders  of  Jehu.  Hosea's 
child  was  to  bear  to  the  descendants  of  Jehu  the  message  of 
doom : 

And  Jehovah  said  unto  him.  Call  his  name  Jezreel ; 
for  yet  a  little  while,  and  I  will  avenge  the  blood  of 
Jezreel  upon  the  house  of  Jehu,  and  will  cause  the 
kingdom  of  the  house  of  Israel  to  cease. — Hos.  i :  4. 

The  facts  and  their  chronology  are  somewhat  obscure; 
but  it  would  seem  that  Elisha  played  a  most  important  part 
in  the  relations  of  Israel  to  her  northern  neighbor,  Syria. 
The  divine  foresight  of  Elisha  is  said  to  have  saved  the  king 
of  Israel  from  his  enemy  "not  once  nor  twice."  In  one 
fascinating  story  (II  Kings  6:8-17)  we  read  that  the  Syrian 
king  determined  to  seize  upon  this  man  who  could  tell  his 
king  the  things  the  Syrian  spoke  in  his  bedchamber.  Elisha 
was  at  Dothan.  His  servant  cried,  "Alas,  my  master!  how 
shall  we  do?"  Elisha's  God  opened  the  young  man's  eyes, 
and  he  saw  the  mountain  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of  fire 
round  about  EHsha.  It  has  been  said  of  Phillips  Brooks  that 
he  lived  and  moved  and  had  his  being  in  a  world  which 
to  Huxley  was  non-existent  for  lack  of  evidence.  Little 
Helen  Keller  said  to  Brooks,  'T  knew  all  about  God  before 
you  told  me,  only  I  did  not  know  his  name."  A  young 
soldier  of  the  Great  War  says  :  "I  do  not  fear  to  trust  my 
unknown  future  to  a  known  God."     Some  men  seem  ever  to 

183 


[IX-5]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF -ISRAEL 

live  with  eyes  anointed  to  see  the  mountains  full  of  horses 
and  chariots.     Some  men  seem  to  feel  that  God 

"presses  close 
And  palpitatingly,  His  soul  o'er  ours." 

To  other  men,  the  veil  of  sense  hangs  dark  between  them 
and  the  face  of  God.  In  "A  Student  in  Arms"  Hankey 
says :  "True  religion  means  betting  one's  life  that  there  is 
a  God."  No  man  ever  lost  that  bet.  "If  with  all  your  hearts 
3^e  truly  seek  me,  ye  shall  ever  surely  find  me."  And  the 
discovery  of  God,  his  horses  and  chariots,  transforms  a  man 
fro<n  a  victim  into  a  victor. 

Ninth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

Read  II  Kings  6 :  24-7 :  20,  the  story  of  the  well-fed  beggars 
and  the  famished  city. 

Among  the  stories  of  Elisha  and  his  contemporaries  one 
reads  with  peculiar  sympathy  that  of  the  siege  of  Samaria. 
A  dreadful  case  of  cannibalism  was  called  to  the  attention 
of  the  king;  the  king  rent  his  garments;  men  saw  beneath 
the  robes  of  royalty  "sackcloth  within  upon  his  flesh." 
Elisha  predicted  abundance  of  food  within  twenty-four  hours, 
a  prediction  which  the  chief  captain  thought  might  be  ful- 
filled if  windows  were  opened  in  heaven.  Four  leprous  men 
lay  starving  outside  the  city  gates.  They  determined  in 
despair  to  "fall  unto  the  host  of  the  Syrians."  They  were 
amazed  to  find  that  a  panic  due  to  false  rumors  had  broken 
up  the  enemy's  camp.  They  ate  and  drank  as  much  as  they 
possibly  could,  probably  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives ;  they 
hid  away  silver  and  gold  and  raiment,  and  dreamed  golden 
dreams.  And  then  the  meaning  and  the  peril  of  their  act 
dawned  upon  them — a  day  of  good  tidings,  a  starving  city — 
and  they  said :  "We  do  not  well ;  let  us  go  and  tell  the  king's 
household." 

Elisha  usually  employed  his  powers  to  repel  the  forces  of 
Syria,  but  one   story,  on  which   we  do  not   dwell,   reveals  a 

184 


CONFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES  [IX-5] 

somewhat  close,  if  not  sympathetic,  understanding  between 
him  and  the  murderous  usurper  of  the  Syrian  throne,  Hazael 
(II  Kings  8:7-15). 

Read  II  Kings  5,  the  entire  chapter,   for  complete  narrative 
of  Naaman. 

So  Naaman  came  with  his  horses  and  with  his 
chariots,  and  stood  at  the  door  of  the  house  of  Elisha. 
And  Elisha  sent  a  messenger  unto  him,  saying,  Go 
and  wash  in  the  Jordan  seven  times,  and  thy  flesh 
shall  come  again  to  thee,  and  thou  shalt  be  clean. 
But  Naaman  was  wroth,  and  went  away,  and  said. 
Behold,  I  thought.  He  will  surely  come  out  to  me,  and 
stand,  and  call  on  the  name  of  Jehovah  his  God,  and 
wave  his  hand  over  the  place,  and  recover  the  leper. 
Are  not  Abanah  and  Pharpar,  the  rivers  of  Damascus, 
better  than  all  the  waters  of  Israel?  may  I  not  wash 
in  them,  and  be  clean?  So  he  turned  and  went  away 
in  a  rage.  And  his  servants  came  near,  and  spake 
unto  him,  and  said,  My  father,  if  the  prophet  had 
bid  thee  do  some  great  thing,  wouldest  thou  not  have 
done  it?  how  much  rather  then,  when  he  saith  to  thee, 
Wash,  and  be  clean?  Then  went  he  down,  and  dipped 
himself  seven  times  in  the  Jordan,  according  to  the 
saying  of  the  man  of  God;  and  his  flesh  came  again 
like  unto  the  flesh  of  a  little  child,  and  he  was  clean. 
—II  Kings  5  :  9-14. 

A  pleasanter  story  of  his  relation  to  Syria  is  the  more 
familiar  one  of  Elisha  and  Naaman.  The  little  nameless  slave 
girl  in  the  home  of  the  great  Syrian  general,  with  her 
"witness — true,  rational,  and  vital,"  proceeded  to  "put  her 
witness  home."  "Would  that  my  lord  were  with  the  prophet 
that  is  in  Samaria !  then  would  he  recover  him  of  his 
leprosy"  (verse  3).  The  great  man,  with  the  one  damning 
defect,  journeyed  with  ostentatious  retinue  to  Israel.  Elisha's 
abrupt  and  seemingly  arbitrary  command  naturally  exaspe- 
rated Naaman.  "Are  not  Abanah  and  Pharpar,  rivers  of 
Damascus,  better  than  all  the  muddy  streams  of  Israel?" 
"The  repulsion  of  the  easy"  has  always  been  felt  by  strong 
men.     When   at   last   Naaman   was   cured,   he   would   lavish 

185 


[IX-5]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

great  gifts  upon  the  prophet,  but  Elisha  replied,  "As  Je- 
hovah Hveth,  I  will  receive  none."  Gehazi,  "the  grafter," 
had  no  prophetic  scruples.  "As  Jehovah  liveth,  I  will  run 
after  him,  and  take  somewhat  of  him."  A  preacher,  pursuing 
the  story  of  Gehazi,  has  well  spoken  of  "the  by-products  of 
graft." 

The  worth  of  Elisha  to  the  kings  of  Israel  in  their  long 
conflicts  with  Syria  is  emphasized  by  the  story  that  when  the 
king  of  Israel  came  down  to  see  the  old  prophet  on  his 
deathbed,  Joash  "wept  over  him,  and  said.  My  father,  my 
father,  the  chariots  of  Israel,  and  the  horsemen  thereof !" 
(II  Kings  13:  14-19).  To  the  king,  the  death  of  the  prophet 
was  the  loss  of  a  father — the  loss,  as  it  were,  of  the  horse- 
men and  chariots  of  Israel. 

Many  wonder-works  are  attributed  to  Elisha,  some  of 
them  rather  pale  repetitions  of  those  recorded  of  his  master, 
Elijah.  Most  of  these  miraculous  stories  add  to  our  sense 
of  the  kindliness  of  the  man.  That  which  bids  us  to  hear 
his  curse  upon  the  boys,  and  to  see  two  she-bears  tear 
"forty  and  two  lads  of  them"  helps  us  to  appreciate  the 
atmosphere  of  cruelty  which  all  men  of  the  time  breathed, 
which  the  compilers  of  the  stories  breathed,  an  atmosphere 
from  which  later  prophets  began  to  lead  men  into  the  purer 
air  of  loftier  heights. 

As  we  inquire  more  particularly  of  the  religion  of  Elisha, 
we  are  disappointed  to  find  that  he  was  much  more  a  man 
of  his  time  than  was  Elijah.  He  acquiesced  in  the  customs 
and  conceptions  of  his  age,  and  accepted  them  willingly  as 
his  own. 

And  he  returned  to  the  man  of  God,  he  and  all  his 
company,  and  came,  and  stood  before  him ;  and  he  said. 
Behold  now,  I  know  that  there  is  no  God  in  all  the 
earth,  but  in  Israel :  now  therefore,  I  pray  thee,  take  a 
present  of  thy  servant.  But  he  said.  As  Jehovah  liveth, 
before  whom  I  stand,  I  will  receive  none.  And  he 
urged  him  to  take  it;  but  he  refused.  And  Naaman 
said.  If  not,  yet,  I  pray  thee,  let  there  be  given  to  thy 
servant  two  mules'  burden   of   earth;    for  thy   servant 

186 


CONFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES  [IX-5] 

will  henceforth  offer  neither  burnt-offering  nor  sacrifice 
unto  other  gods,  but  unto  Jehovah.  In  this  thing  Je- 
hovah pardon  thy  servant :  when  my  master  goeth  into 
the  house  of  Rimmon  to  worship  there,  and  he  leaneth 
on  my  hand,  and  I  bow  myself  in  the  house  of  Rimmon, 
when  I  bow  myself  in  the  house  of  Rimmon,  Jehovah 
pardon  thy  servant  in  this  thing.  And  he  said  unto 
him,  Go  in  peace.  So  he  departed  from  him  a  little 
way. — II  Kings  5  :  15-19. 

He  apparently  approved  the  determination  of  Naaman  to 
take  two  mules'  burden  of  earth  up  to  Syria,  that  the  new 
convert  to  Jehovah  worship  might  have  some  of  Jehovah's 
real  estate  upon  which  to  build  his  altar  to  his  newly-chosen 
deity.  It  would  seem  at  this  point  that  to  Elisha,  as  to  his 
contemporaries,  the  limits  of  Jehovah's  rule  were  the  bound- 
ary lines  surrounding  the  kingdoms  of  Israel  and  of  Judah, 

He  seems,  moreover,  to  have  acceded  without  hesitancy  to 
the  request  of  Naaman  that  he  be  permitted  to  bow  himself 
"in  the  house  of  Rimmon,"  when  the  king  of  Syria  should 
lean  upon  his  hand  as  he  worshiped  in  the  heathen  temple.  A 
writer  says  of  the  early  Christians :  "If  they  threw  a  handful 
of  incense  on  the  fires  before  the  bust  of  the  emperor,  they 
were  before  their  own  consciences  guilty  of  the  grossest 
idolatry;  if  they  refused,  they  were  in  the  eyes  of  their  fel- 
lows branded  as  traitors."  During  the  Boxer  outbreaks  of 
1900,  it  would  have  been  easy  enough  for  multitudes  of 
Chinese  Christians  to  escape  death,  if  they  had  but  followed 
the  simple  plan  of  Naaman,  so  kindly  endorsed  by  Elisha ! 

One  has  suggested  that  it  may  not  be  quite  accidental  that 
Elisha  is  mentioned  only  once  in  the  New  Testament.  But 
we  must  measure  the  greatness  of  the  man,  not  by  his  near- 
ness to  the  standard  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  by  his  distance  from 
the  standard  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived.  When  Ahab's 
son,  Jehoram,  engaged  in  his  rather  modest  act  of  reform, 
and  put  away  "the  pillar  (obelisk)  of  Baal  that  his  father  had. 
made"  (II  Kings  3:2),  Elisha  doubtless  applauded  and  aided. 
When  Jehu,  with  ruthless,  remorseless  zeal,  destroyed  the 
worship   and   the   worshipers    of    foreign   baalim,    Elisha   co- 

187 


[IX-6]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

operated  with  a  glad  heart.  He  shared  his  people's  misery 
when  Jehu  was  forced  to  send  tribute  to  Assyria.  How 
grievous  the  burden  was  may  be  inferred  from  the  black 
obelisk  of  Shalmaneser,  which  reads :  "Tribute  of  Jehu,  son 
of  Omri^ — objects  of  silver  and  gold — bars  of  silver,  bars  of 
gold,  a  golden  bowl,  a  golden  ladle,  golden  goblets,  golden 
pitchers,  bars  of  lead — a  staff  for  the  hand  of  a  king,  shafts 
of  spears  .  .  .  these  I  received." 

Elisha  doubtless  advised  his  people  in  the  long  early  wars 
of  liberation  from  the  Syrian  yoke,  sorrowed  with  them 
when  Hazael  brought  Israel  very  low  in  the  day  of  Jehoahaz, 
rejoiced  with  them  in  the  hope  that  Joash  (Jehoash)  would 
be  the\r  deliverer. 

The  prophet  entered,  though  he  did  not  abide  in,  the  king- 
dom of  kindly  hearts,  in  which  Jesus  bade  men  live  as  birth- 
right citizens.  Between  Elisha  and  Jesus  there  are  eight 
hundred  years  of  human  striving,  of  divine  education. 

II.  THE  CONTEMPORARY  FORTUNES  OF  JUDAH^ 
Ninth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

While  events  of  great  importance  were  thus  occurring 
in  the  political  and  religious  life  of  northern  Israel,  while 
men  of  exceptional  ability  were  there  making  history,  the 
Southern  Kingdom  knew,  for  the  most  part,  a  period  of  ''first- 
rate  events,  but  second-rate  men."  The  line  of  David  did 
persist,  though  at  one  time  its  continuance  depended  upon  the 
life  of  a  little  child,  hidden  away  from  intended  slaughter 
(II  Kings  II :  i-ii). 

The  political  history  of  Judah  during  our  entire  period 
reminds  one  of  the  history  of  a  Balkan  state. 

We  need  to  recall  two  or  three  events  of  importance. 


6  This  title  given  by  the  Assyrian  to  Jehu  the  usurper  shows  how  deep  an 
impression  had  been  made  upon  his  contemporaries  by  Omri. 

"Note  with  some  care  on  the  historical  chart  (p.  ii)  the  reigns  of  the 
Judean  kings  in  the  days  of  the  Divided  Kingdom. 

i88 


CONFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES  [IX-6] 

I.  Relations  with  Northern  Israel 

Jehoshaphat  (876-851  B.  C.)  thought  to  settle  the  long- 
standing feud  with  northern  Israel  by  the  marriage  of  his 
son,  Jehoram,  to  the  daughter  of  Ahab  and  Jezebel,  Athaliah. 
This  shrewd  stroke  of  diplomacy  was  to  prove  suicidaL 
Athaliah  was  the  worthy  daughter  of  Jezebel,  and  did  not 
hesitate  to  seek  the  murder  of  all  her  relatives,  when  occasion 
served.  Jehoshaphat  tried  to  play  with  docility  his  part  in 
the  alliance  with  Israel.  He  was  indeed  somewhat  squeamish 
about  entering  a  campaign  without  the  endorsement  of  a  true 
prophet  of  Jehovah  (p.  175).  But  he  yielded  with  delightful 
plasticity  to  the  deft  handling  of  Ahab.  By  the  way,  he  once 
tried  his  hand  at  a  commercial  venture,  but  when  his  ships 
went  to  pieces  in  a  storm,  he  gave  it  up. 

Jehoshaphat  made  ships  of  Tarshish  to  go  to  Ophir 
for  gold :  but  they  went  not ;  for  the  ships  were  broken 
at  Ezion-geber.  Then  said  Ahaziah  the  son  of  Ahab 
unto  Jehoshaphat,  Let  my  servants  go  with  thy  servants 
in  the  ships.  But  Jehoshaphat  would  not. — I  Kings 
22:48,  49. 

Now  and  again  Judah  wearied  of  peace  with  northern  Israel, 
and  ventured  into  futile  war.  A  story  told  of  Amaziah 
(796-782  B.  C.)   is  well  worth  studying. 

Then  Amaziah  sent  messengers  to  Jehoash,  the  son 
of  Jehoahaz  son  of  Jehu,  king  of  Israel,  saying,  Come, 
let  us  look  one  another  in  the  lace.  And  Jehoash  the 
king  of  Israel  sent  to  Amaziah  king  of  Judah,  saying. 
The  thistle  that  was  in  Lebanon  sent  to  the  cedar  that 
was  in  Lebanon,  saying,  Give  thy  daughter  to  my  son 
to  wife :  and  there  passed  by  a  wild  beast  that  was  in 
Lebanon,  and  trod  down  the  thistle.  Thou  hast  indeed 
smitten  Edom,  and  thy  heart  hath  lifted  thee  up :  glory 
thereof,  and  abide  at  home ;  for  why  shouldest  thou 
meddle  to  thy  hurt,  that  thou  shouldest  fall,  even  thou, 
and  Judah  with  thee? — II  Kings  14:8-10. 

In  a  word,  the  king  of  Israel  treated  Amaziah  "as  a  good- 
natured  giant  might  treat  a  dwarf."     But  Amaziah  was  not 


[IX-7]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

content  till,  he  had  "iDOked  in  the  face"  his  stronger  neigh- 
bor. Before  the  war  ended,  Jehoash  "brake  down  the  wall 
of  Jerusalem  from  the  gate  of  Ephraim  mito  the  corner 
gate,  four  hundred  cubits.  And  he  took  all  the  gold  and 
silver,  and  all  the  vessels  that  were  found  in  the  house  of 
Jehovah,  and  in  the  treasures  of  the  king's  house,  the 
hostages  also,  and  returned  to  Samaria"  (II  Kings  14:  13, 
14). 

2.  Relations  with  Syria 

If  perchance  Judah  was  at  peace  with  Israel,  she  was 
harassed  by  the  possibility  of  invasion  from  the  remarkably 
vital  and  vigorous  people  of  Syria  to  the  north.  In  810  B.  C. 
we  find  Hazael  the  Syrian  making  his  way  down  as  far  as 
Jerusalem.  He  was  bought  off  only  by  a  grievous  tribute. 
One  wonders  how  the  poor  little  kings  of  Judah  got  gold 
enough  to  pour  into  the  mouths  of  their  greedy  foes. 

Then  Hazael  king  of  Syria  went  up,  and  fought 
against  Gath,  and  took  it ;  and  Hazael  set  his  face  to  go 
up  to  Jerusalem.  And  Jehoash  king  of  Judah  took  all 
the  hallowed  things  that  Jehoshaphat  and  Jehoram  and 
Ahaziah,  his  fathers,  kings  of  Judah,  had  dedicated,  and 
his  own  hallowed  things,  and  all  the  gold  that  was 
found  in  the  treasures  of  the  house  of  Jehovah,  and 
of  the  king's  house,  and  sent  it  to  Hazael  king  of 
Syria:  and  he  went  away  from  Jerusalem. — II  Kings 
12:  17,  18. 

Ninth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

Aleanwhile  the  religion  of  Jehovah  was  meeting  with  varied 
fortunes  in  Judah. 

Rehoboam,  while  the  protector  of  Jehovah's  central  sanctu- 
ary, had  evidently  given  his  royal  support  to  the  venerable 
Canaanitish  shrines,  in  which  almost  certainly  Jehovah  was 
worshiped,  but  with  all  the  paraphernalia  and  with  all  the 
immoralities  of  the  heathen  cult. 

And  Judah  did  that  which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of 
Jehovah,  and  they  provoked  him  to  jealousy  with  their 

190 


CONFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES  [IX-7] 

sins  which  they  committed,  above  all  that  their  fathers 
had  done.  For  they  also  built  them  high  places,  and 
pillars,  and  Asherim,  on  every  high  hill,  and  under 
every  green  tree;  and  there  were  also  sodomites  in  the 
land :  they  did  according  to  all  the  abominations  of  the 
nations  which  Jehovah  drove  out  before  the  children  of 
Israel. — I  Kings  14  :  22-24. 

Asa  (917-876  B.  C.)  appears  to  have  carried  through  some 
rather  rigorous  reforms,  driving  from  the  land  the  loose 
servants  of  the  heathenish  worship  of  the  time,  and  even 
destroying  an  "abominable  image"  made  by  the  queen  mother 
(I  Kings  15:  13). 

When  Athaliah  came  to  the  throne,  she  devoted  herself 
to  the  worship  of  the  god  of  her  mother,  Jezebel.  Upon 
her  death  the  popular,  patriotic  party,  led  by  the  priests 
of  Jehovah,  swept  away  every  trace  of  her  foreign  cult,  and 
vigorously  entered  upon  the  restoration  of  Solomon's  temple. 

And  Jehoiada  made  a  covenant  between  Jehovah  and 
the  king  and  the  people,  that  they  should  be  Jehovah's 
people ;  between  the  king  also  and  the  people.  And  all 
the  people  of  the  land  went  to  the  house  of  Baal,  and 
brake  it  down ;  his  altars  and  his  images  brake  they  in 
pieces  thoroughly,  and  slew  Mattan  the  priest  of  Baal 
before  the  altars.  And  the  priest  appointed  officers 
over  the  house  of  Jehovah.  And  he  took  the  captains 
over  hundreds,  and  the  Carites,  and  the  guard,  and  all 
the  people  of  the  land ;  and  they  brought  down  the  king 
from  the  house  of  Jehovah,  and  came  by  the  way  of 
the  gate  of  the  guard  unto  the  king's  house.  And  he 
sat  on  the  throne  of  the  kings.  So  all  the  people  of  the 
land  rejoiced,  and  the  city  was  quiet.  And  Athaliah 
they  had  slain  with  the  sword  at  the  king's  house. — 
II  Kings  II :  17-20, 

A  period  followed  of  kaleidoscopic  changes — now  political 
independence,  now  submission ;  now  religious  relapse,  now 
reform. 

We  must  note  one  striking  advance  in  ethical  practice.  As 
a  statesman,  Amaziah  was  a  failure  (see  p.  189),  but  accord- 
ing to  the  record,  he  was  brave  enough  to  break  away  from 

191 


[IX-7]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

a  bloody  custom  sanctified  by  the  moral  code  of  almost  every 
race  of  his  time. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  as  soon  as  the  kingdom  was 
established  in  his  hand,  that  he  slew  his  servants  who 
had  slain  the  king  his  father :  but  the  children  of  the 
murderers  he  put  not  to  death ;  according  to  that  which 
is  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  of  Moses,  as  Jehovah 
commanded,  saying,  The  fathers  shall  not  be  put  to 
death  for  the  children,  nor  the  children  be  put  to 
death  for  the  fathers ;  but  every  man  shall  die  for  his 
own  sin. — II  Kings  14  :  5,  6. 

One  man — and  not  a  great  man,  either — refused  to  bow  to 
the  custom  which  involved  a  sinner's  family,  friends,  and 
possessions  in  common  doom    (p.    126). 

Concluding  Note 

In  the  course  of  the  century  and  a  half  which  we  have 
been  studying,  we  have  seen  the  little  divided  distracted 
kingdoms  fighting  literally  for  their  lives.  Because  of  its 
more  exposed  situation,  northern  Israel  was  swept  more 
swiftly  into  the  current  of  world  politics.  Both  kingdoms 
shared  the  bitterness  of  defeat  at  the  hands  of  Syria.  While 
Judah  lived  over  again  in  memory  Egyptian  oppression  (p. 
75),  Israel  knew  the  tragedy  of  submission  to  the  yet 
mightier  world  power,  Assyria. 

The  Northern  Kingdom  had  driven  from  their  thrones  the 
local  baals,  to  enthrone  Jehovah,  to  call  him  "Baali,"  my 
Baal,  and  to  worship  him  according  to  the  old  immoral  rites, 
with  chief  sanctuaries  at  Bethel  and  Dan.  Worse  still, 
Ahab,  in  the  interest  of  foreign  diplomacy,  had  introduced 
the  worship  of  a  foreign  deity,  who  must  have  his  shrines, 
his  priests,  his  prophets.  But  northern  Israel  nourished 
another  type  of  patriot.  Micaiah  and  Elijah  saw  that  the 
only  civic  progress  or  salvation  worth  striving  for  was  that 
which  issued  from  an  exclusive  worship  of  Jehovah.  Largely, 
perhaps,  for  political  reasons,  Jehu  aided  the  prophetic  point 
of  view,  and  by  the  close  of  our  period,  the  worship  of  Mel- 

192 


CONFLICTS  AND  ALLIANCES  [IX-q] 

kart,  the  Tyrian  baal,  was  apparently  ended  in  northern 
Israel. 

The  prophets  had  also  revealed  to  the  people  the  founda- 
tion of  Jehovah's  throne,  namely,  justice. 

In  Judah,  the  foreign  cult  competing  with  Jehovah  worship 
did  not  sink  deep  roots,  but  even  in  Judah  the  local  shrines, 
while  bearing  the  name  of  Jehovah,  cherished  the  old 
fashions  of  Canaanitish   faith. 

But  there  gathered  about  the  .temple  at  Jerusalem  a  group 
of  men  who  began  to  write  down  the  stories  of  the  people 
of  Israel.  They  wrote  of  the  beginnings  of  the  world's 
life  in  Jehovah's  will,  the  entrance  of  sin  into  the  world,  the 
punishment  of  sin.  They  wrote  of  Abraham,  of  Joseph,  of 
Moses;  of  Jehovah's  choice  of  Israel,  of  Israel's  choice  of 
Jehovah.  And  as  they  wrote  these  narratives,  now  known  to 
us  as  the  Judean  or  Jahvistic  document  (p.  7),  they  and 
their  disciples  began  to  create  a  new  world  of  thought,  in 
which  Isaiah  and  his  corhrades  were  one  day  to  be  at  home. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  Discuss  the  tasks  of  statesmanship  and  war  presented 
to  Omri  and  Ahab.  How  would  you  explain  Ahab's  en- 
dorsement of  the  worship  of  the  Tyrian  baal? 

2.  What  is  the  significance  of  the  battle  of  Karkar? 

3.  What  is  the  relationship  between  Ahab's  religious  atti- 
tude and  his  treatment  of  Xaboth? 

4.  Characterize  the  prophetic  guilds.  What  would  be  their 
political  and  religious  influence? 

5.  Characterize  the  "false"  prophets.  Would  you  think 
it  possible  that  a  modern  preacher  might  become  a  "false" 
prophet?     If  so,  how? 

6.  How  do  you  suppose  Micaiah  gained  his  insight  and 
foresight? 

7.  Why  could  not  the  great  king  Ahab  and  the  great  prophet 
Elijah  agree?  Both  were  interested  in  the  welfare  of  their 
country.     Together  they  would   have  been  invincible. 

193 


[IX-q]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

8.  Would  you  think  it  proper  for  a  Chinese  Christian  to 
bow  before  the  ancestral  tablets,  on  the  ground  that  the  out- 
ward act  is  of  negligible  importance  so  long  as  God  sees  the 
heart?     Why  or  why  not? 

9.  What  view  of  Jehovah  does  Naaman  reveal  in  his  ex- 
pressed desire  to  carry  two  mules'  burden  of  earth  back  to 
Syria  for  an  altar? 

ID.  Would  you  regard  the  era  studied  in  this  chapter  an 
era  of  political  and  religious  progress,  or  decline?  Give  rea- 
son for  your  estimate. 


194 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Old  Problems  and  New  Prophets 

The  Old  Time  Religion  and   the   Religious 

Revolutionists  of  the  Eighth  Century 

Amos,  Hosea,  Isaiah,  Micah 

Introductory:    Israel's    Religious    and    Ethical 

Assets  in  the  Early  Decades  of  the  Eighth 

Century 

Tenth  Week,  First  Day. 

For  most  of  us  these  men  and  women,  who  lived  so  many 
years  ago  in  Palestine,  are  names,  or  rather  collections  of 
alphabetical  symbols,  distributed  in  various  fashions.  Why 
study  about  Jeroboam,  when  you  can  read  about  Joffre?  Why 
trace  the  march  of  Hazael,  when  you  can  follow  the  tactics  of 
Hindenburg?  In  the  twentieth  century,  the  universe  is 
dropped  down  into  each  man's  backyard.  And  the  victories, 
defeats,  and  alliances  of  Palestinian  monarchs  seem  like  the 
quarrels  and  kissings  of  little  children,  portrayed  on  some 
ancient  vase  in  some  musty  museum.  It  is  not  always  easy 
to  distinguish  between  bigness  and  greatness,  between  a 
heap  of  sand  and  a  heap  of  seeds. 

"We  see  dimly  in  the  Present  what  is  small  and  what  is  great, 
Slow  of  faith,  how  weak  an  arm  may  turn  the  iron  helm  of 
fate." 

Assyria  was  big;  Assyria  is  dead.  When  the  history  of  the 
Great  War  is  written,  little  Belgium  will  seem  to. us  very 
great.  In  tiny  Israel,  weak  arms  were  turning  the  iron  helm; 
and  the  course  of  the  subsequent  ages,  yes,  of  our  present 

195 


[X-i]      RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

age,  has  been  in  no  small  measure  determined  by  the.  pres- 
sure of  those/'weak  arms"  upon  the  helm. 

The  eighth  century  B.  C.  inherited  from  the  past  religious 
and  ethical  customs,  conceptions,  ideals,  which  became  the 
original  working  capital  of  the  great  prophets  of  the  century. 

All  the  Hebrews  of  both  Northern  and  Southern  Kingdoms 
agreed  that  between  Israel  and  Jehovah  there  was  an  indis- 
soluble partnership.  Probably  every  Israelite  would  have 
assented  to  the  words  which  come  to  us  from  the  "Song  of 
Moses" : 

He  found  him  in  a  desert  land, 

And  in  the  waste  howling  wilderness ; 

He  compassed  him  about,  he  cared  for  him, 

He  kept  bim  as  the  apple  of  his  eye. 

As  an  eagle  that  stirreth  up  her  nest. 

That  fluttereth  over  her  young, 

He.  spread  abroad  his  wings,  he  took  them, 

He  bare  them  on  his  pinions. 

Jehovah  alone  did  lead  him, 

And  there  was  no  foreign  god  with  him. 

— Deut.   z^  ■  10-12. 

To  the  average  Hebrew,  this  relationship  was  as  necessary 
to  Jehovah  as  to  Israel   (p.  207). 

While  Jehovah's  "home"  was  in  the  desert,  he  had  con- 
quered and  made  his  own  the  land  of  Palestine.  The  temple 
of  Jerusalem,  the  altars  of  Hebron,  of  Bethel,  and  of  Dan, 
and  the  "high  places"  throughout  the  land  were  objects  of 
Jehovah's  special  interest,  and  seats  of  his  special  power.  Of 
extreme  importance  was  the  ritual.  The  form,  not  the  spirit 
of  worship,  demanded  the  solicitude  of  priests  and  people. 

The  kingdom  of  Jehovah  was  bounded  by  the  boundary 
hnes  of  northern  Israel  and  Judah.  "  'Jahveh's  inheritance' 
...  is  Palestine,  and  one  who  passed  beyond  the  boundaries 
of  the  country  left  Jahveh  behind,  and  had  to  place  himself 
under  the  protection  of  'other  gods'  whose  domain  he  had. 
entered.'" 


1  Bad6,  "The  Old  Testament  in  the  Light  of  Today,"  p.  144. 
196 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [X-i] 

In  theory  Jehovah  had  supplanted  all  the  local  baalim  of 
Palestine ;  but  the  conception  of  Jehovah  was  saturated  with 
Canaanitish  ideas.  For  example,  if  the  Canaanites  burned 
their  sons  and  their  daughters  to  their  baalim,  the  question 
pressed  hard:  Does  not  Jehovah  require  like  sacrifice?  Wells 
and  stones  were  still  haunted  by  the  ancient  spirits.  Ancient 
magic  might  still  be  strong  even  under  the  regime  of  Jehovah. 
Said  a  poor  woman  of  West  Africa,  who  was  just  learning 
to  make  her  own  the  Ten  Commandments,  or  "Tyings" : 
"The  tying  that  ties  you  not  to  make  a  charm-7-does  that 
forbid  a  charm  to  hold  your  husband's  love?  For  he  did 
exceedingly  love  me  when  I  was  new,  and  now  he  has  that 
girl  from  Nkole  he  does  not  so  much  as  eat  my  food !  And 
my  mother  knows  a  charm  for  this  thing,  only  I  said,  'Before 
I  make  that  charm  that  you  know,  I  must  ask  a  person  of 
God;  I  am  a  Christian  and  am  I  able  to  make  that  charm?'  "" 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Micronesian  Mission,  the  natives 
would  say :  "This  island  belongs  to  Jehovah,  since  missionaries 
live  on  it,  and  if  he  forbids  tattooing  ceremonies,  we  will  go 
to  another  island  .  .  .  which  has  not  been  given  to  Jehovah, 
and  there  we  will  worship  the  gods  of  these  islands,  and 
will  tattoo."  And  seven  or  eight  hundred  people  left  the  is- 
land of  the  missionaries  for  the  performance  of  the  ancient, 
discredited,  but  most  desirable  ceremony. 

A  missionary  in  India  says  in  a  somewhat  discouraged 
fashion,  "We  often  hear  about  secret  Christians  in  India, 
but  we  do  not  stop  to  inquire  how  many  secret  Hindus 
there  may  be" — those  who  have  named  the  name  of  Christ, 
and  try  to  follow  him,  but  yield  to  the  terrific  tug  of  the 
ancient  faith  and  ritual. 

National  victories  would  tend  to  increase  the  devotion  of 
the  Hebrews  to  Jehovah.  National  defeats  would  weaken 
the  devotion,  or  lead  to  the  question :  "What  ritual  have  we 
failed  to  perform  in  order  to  retain  the  protection  and  sup- 
port of   our   God?"     Increasing   international   entanglements 


2  Jean  K.  Mackenzie,  "An  African  Trail,"  p.  117. 
197 


[X-i]      RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

profoundly  affected  religion.  We  have  seen  (I  Kings  ii: 
5-8)  Solomon  giving  welcome  to  the  gods  of  neighbor  nations. 
We  have  seen  the  cult  of  Melkart  achieving  royal  favor  in 
Israel  and  later  in  Judah.  While  the  worship  of  the  Tyrian 
baal  disappeared,  Jehovah  had  to  compete  in  popular  thought 
with  other  living  and  powerful  gods. 

The  character  of  Jehovah  was  still  very  imperfectly  re- 
vealed. Jehovah  was  thought  to  be  cruel,  vengeful.  In 
a  singularly  lofty  passage  Jehovah  is  made  to  speak  in  lan- 
guage which  expresses  the  prevalent  conception  of  their  God 
held  by  Israelites  of  the  eighth  and  many  succeeding  cen- 
turies : 

If  I  whet  my  glittering  sword, 

And  my  hand  take  hold  on  judgment; 

I  will  render  vengeance  to  mine  adversaries, 

And  will  recompense  them  that  hate  me. 

I  will  make  mine  arrows  drunk  with  blood. 

And  my  sword  shall  devour  flesh ; 

With  the  blood  of  the  slain  and  the  captives, 

From  the  head  of  the  leaders  of  the  enemy. 

— Deut.   32:41,   42. 

In  David's  time  the  people  could  suffer  from  a  three  years' 
famine  presumably  because  of  the  cruelty  of  Saul  years  be- 
fore; and  Jehovah's  wrath  could  be  appeased  if  David  took 
seven  of  Saul's  sons,  and  hanged  them  up  unto  Jehovah. 
"And  after  that  God  was  entreated  for  the  land"  (II  Sam. 
21:14).  The  later  compiler  of  the  stories  of  David's  life 
acquiesces  in  the  deed  of  cruelty,  and  the  truly  dreadful  con- 
ception of  Jehovah.  Elijah  and  Elisha  were  both  sure  that 
they  were  doing  Jehovah's  will  when  they  slaughtered,  or 
assented  to  the  slaughter  of,  the  representatives  of  baal 
worship. 

The  effect  of  this  imperfect  conception  of  Jehovah  upon 
communal  morals  is  obvious.  Elijah  had  preached  justice 
to  Ahab,  but  practiced  cruelty  against  the  priests  of  Baal. 
Justice  toward  women,  toward  children,  toward  slaves  and 
aliens  was  often  rank  injustice. 

198 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [X-2] 

Happily,  there  were  not  lacking  signs  of  better  days.  George 
Adam  Smith  suggests  that  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Samuel 
"the  patriotic  enthusiasm  of  the  uprising  against  Philistine 
domination  began  to  lift  the  prophets  clear  of  the  functions 
and  the  magical  implements  of  soothsaying,  and  cut  them 
loose  from  ceremonial  religion  in  general.  These  functions 
now  fell  to  the  priests.  This  was  probably  the  greatest  relief 
which  prophecy  experienced  in  the  course  of  its  evolution." 
Samuel,  Nathan,  Elijah,  Alicaiah,  Elisha,  were  not  officials 
attached  to  particular  shrines.  They  were  speakers  for  Je- 
hovah to  the  nation.  Their  freedom  from  the  control  of 
priestly  custom  and  environment  liberated  their  thought.  With 
courageous  hearts  they  climbed  toward  God.  Meanwhile  men 
of  light  and  leading  were  writing  and  teaching  the  lessons 
of  Israel's  early  history — perhaps  the  first  Bible  of  the 
people. 

Our  present  chapter  brings  us  to  the  study  of  the  life,  the 
teachings,  and  the  times  of  four  men  who  were  themselves 
revolutionists  and  who  have  been  fomenting  religious  revolu- 
tions ever  since.  Their  names  are  Amos  and  Hosea,  Isaiah 
and  Micah.  The  student  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  may  pursue 
his  investigations  farther  back  than  the  era  of  these  men; 
but  he  may  not  start  with  a  later  period. 

I.  TWO  PROPHETS  TO  THE  NORTHERN 
KINGDOM 

Tenth  Week,  Second  Day. 

I.  Northern  Israel  in  the  Days  of  Amos  and 

HOSEA-"^ 

So  enormous  has  been  the  influence  of  Israel  upon  the  world 
that  we  find  it  hard  to  realize  how  meager  was  its  geo- 
graphical extent.  The  boundaries  of  Palestine  varied  much 
from  time  to  time.     But  the  distance   from  north  to   south 


3  To  place  Amos  and  Hosea  definitely  is  their  proper  historic  perspective, 
note  carefully  the  chart,  p.  ii,  under  The  Divided  Kingdom. 

199 


[X-2]     RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

was  scarcely  more  than  150  miles  (about  the  distance  between 
New  York  and  Albany  or  between  Buffalo  and  Toledo), 
while  from  east  to  west  the  width  varied  from  twenty-five 
to  eighty  miles.  "From  Egypt's  border  to  Jerusalem  was 
about  100  miles;  from  Jerusalem  to  Samaria  was  forty-five 
miles;  from  Samaria  to  Damascus  was  115  miles;  from 
Damascus  to  Hamath  130  miles;  from  Hamath  to  Euphrates 
100  miles.  In  all,  from  the  border  of  Egypt  to  the  border  of 
Assyria  was  490  miles."  (The  distance  from  New  York  to 
Cleveland  is  568  miles.) 

The  figures  give  us  some  slight  appreciation  of  the  throb- 
bing, intense  life  which  must  have  been  lived  in  Israel,  itself 
divided.  Israel  and  the  whole  world  trembled  in  those  days 
when  Assyria's  kings  went  to  war.  The  annals  of  the  As- 
syrians "are  full  of  talk  about  trampling  down  their  enemies, 
showering  tempests  of  clubs  upon  them,  and  raining  a  deluge 
of  arrows  .  .  .  about  chariots  with  scythes,  and  wheels 
clogged  with  blood,  about  great  baskets  stuffed  with  the 
salted  heads  of  their  foes."  But  in  northern  Israel  all  things 
were  fair  as  a  day  in  June ;  so  to  the  thoughtless  it  seemed. 
Jeroboam  II  (781-740  B.  C.)  was  "the  most  successful  of  the 
Northern  Israelitish  kings."  He  extended  the  boundaries  of 
his  little  kingdom  and  brought  to  his  people  a  period  of  rare 
assurance  and  comparative  prosperity.  Men  dreamed  that 
the  days  of  David  were  coming  back  to  Israel.  Drunkards, 
lolling  on  ivory  couches,  drinking  wine  in  bowls,  could  not 
hear  the  lion's  roar.  But  it  was  "Israel's  Indian  summer," 
soon  to  pass  into  the  dead  of  winter.  "Four  of  the  six 
kings  who  succeeded  Jeroboam  II  were  struck  down  by 
assassins,  and  one  died  in  captivity." 

Hear  the  word  of  Jehovah,  ye  children  of  Israel ; 
for  Jehovah  hath  a  controversy  with  the  inhabitants  of 
the  land,  because  there  is  no  truth,  nor  goodness,  nor 
knowledge  of  God  in  the  land.  There  is  nought  but 
swearing  and  breaking  faith,  and  killing,  and  stealing, 
and  committing  adultery ;  they  break  out,  and  blood 
toucheth  blood.     Therefore  shall  the  land  mourn,  and 

200 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [X-2] 

every  one  that  dwelleth  therein  shall  languish,  with 
the  beasts  of  the  field  and  the  birds  of  the  heavens ; 
yea,  the  fishes  of  the  sea  also  shall  be  taken  away. 
Yet  let  no  man  strive,  neither  let  any  man  reprove ; 
for  thy  people  are  as  they  that  strive  with  the  priest. 
And  thou  shalt  stumble  in  the  day,  and  the  prophet  also 
shall  stumble  with  thee  in  the  night;  and  I  will  destroy 
thy  mother. 

My  people  are  destroyed  for  lack  of  knowledge. — 
Hos.  4:  1-6. 

The  family  life  was  corrupt.  "Harlotry,"  says  Hosea,  "wine 
and  new  wine  take  away  the  heart,"  that  is,  the  brains.  "My 
people  are  destroyed  for  lack  of  knowledge."  In  his  marvel- 
ous figures  Hosea  states  the  obvious  facts  of  the  ordinary 
social  life  of  the  times. 

For  they  have  made  ready  their  heart  like  an  oven, 
while  they  lie  in  wait :  their  baker  sleepeth  all  the  night ; 
in  the  morning  it  burneth  as  a  flaming  fire.  They  are 
all  hot  as  an  oven,  and  devour  their  judges;  all  their 
kings  are  fallen :  there  is  none  among  them  that  calleth 
unto  me. 

Ephraim,  he  mixeth  himself  among  the  peoples ; 
Ephraim  is  a  cake  not  turned.  Strangers  have  devoured 
his  strength,  and  he  knoweth  it  not :  yea,  gray  hairs  are 
here  and  there  upon  him,  and  he  knoweth  it  not. — 
Hos.  7 :  6-9. 

The  baker's  "oven"  speaks  of  the  heat  of  unsubdued  pas- 
sion. The  "cake  not  turned"  is  the  true  picture  of  a  social- 
life,  the  one  side  burned  by  excessive  luxury  and  dilettantism, 
the  other  side  raw  with  ignorance  and  brutality.  "Gray  hairs 
are  here  and  there  upon  him,  and  he  knoweth  it  not."  When 
college  alumni  return  to  their  alma  mater  for  their  tenth 
reunion,  they  look  upon  each  other,  fat  or  shriveled,  bald- 
headed  or  gray-headed,  and  can  scarcely  identify  the  boys 
they  used  to  know  only  a  decade  ago.  But  the  old  boys 
themselves  have  no  idea  that  they  have  changed.  The 
deterioration  of  Israel  was  all  unconscious.  "Gray  hairs 
are  here  and  there  upon  him,  and  he  knoweth  it  not."  "Are 
we  not  prosperous,  are  we  not  victorious?"   Again,  "Ephraim 

201 


[X-3]      RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

feedeth  on  wind,  and  followeth  after  the  east  wind" — or 
"Israel  herds  the  wind,  and  hunts  the  sirocco"  (Hos.  12:  i, 
translation  by  G.  A.  Smith).  Israel  is  a  shepherd,  herding, 
not  flocks,  but  wind;  Israel  is  a  hunter,  following  hard,  not 
after  wild  beasts,  but  the  wild  hot  blast  from  the  desert — a 
nation  rotting  away  through  dissoluteness  into  dissolution. 

For  the  general  decadence,  the  people  were  not  to  be 
blamed.  "Let  no  man  strive,  neither  let  any  man  reprove; 
for  thy  people  are  as  they  that  strive  with  the  priest"  (4:4). 
"As  troops  of  robbers  wait  for  a  man,  so  the  company  of 
priests  murder  in  the  way  toward  Shechem"  (6:9).  The 
priests  are  a  miserable  lot  of  murderers  and  adulterers.  The 
situation  would  be  bad  enough  in  our  time,  if  our  ministry 
were  rotten.  The  influence  of  Israel's  priesthood  was  espe- 
cially pernicious,  because  of  its  extraordinarily  close  relation, 
not  alone  to  royalty,  but  to  the  requirements  of  the  people. 
The  average  Israelite  obtained  his  religious  satisfactions, 
not  so  much  in  his  tent,  or  on  his  housetop,  as  in  the  shrine 
or  sanctuary.  Thither  he  went  up  "to  meet  Jehovah,"  as  he 
would  say.  Now  let  the  priests  of  one  shrine  compete  with 
the  priests  of  another  shrine  in  sensual  attractions  for  the 
worshipers ;  further,  let  the  priests  get  a  grip  upon  the  legal 
as  well  as  the  religious  requirements  of  their  people ;  and  the 
general  debasement  of  morals  becomes  inevitable. 

Tenth  Week,  Third  Day. 

2.  Amos,  the  Man  and  His  Message 

Amos  is  the  first  prophet  known  to  have  written  his 
prophecies.  His  home,  Tekoa,  was  in  the  Southern  Kingdom, 
six  miles  south  of  Bethlehem,  twelve  miles  from  Jerusalem. 
In  "this  haggard  and  desolate  world,"  this  wilderness  region, 
John  the  Baptist  in  the  after-time  was  to  prepare  his  stern 
evangel.  In  this  same  wilderness  Jesus  was  one  day  to  meet 
the  Tempter,  and  wrest  from  him  victory  for  himself  and  for 
the  world.  Amos  was  not  a  man  of  the  prophetic  guilds. 
"No  prophet  I,  nor  prophet's  son."    He  had  never  learned  the 

202 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [X-3] 

lessons  or  known  the  bondage  of  the  schools.  Yet  he  was  not 
"uneducated."  Moulton  finds  in  his  poetry  "a  structural 
elaboration  which  makes  a  greater  effect  than  in  any  other 
prophetic  writing."  In  Amos  we  have  no  ordinary  nomad  of 
the  desert :  a  poet,  rather,  familiar  with  the  use  of  poetic 
language,  touched  by  the  fire  of  God — one  of  those  men  to 
whom  the  deep  night  with  its  stars,  the  speech  of  the  shep- 
herds in  their  tents,  the  rhythm  of  the  songs  of  the  well, 
had  taught  the  swing  and  the  power  of  poetic  utterance.* 
He  had  listened  and  he  had  seen. 

We  infer  that  he  was  poor.  His  poverty  may  be  suggested 
by  the  fact  of  his  double  occupation,  that  of  the  herdsman 
and  the  dresser  of  sycomore  trees.  He  scourges  the  rich, 
but  this  fact  of  itself  would  not  make  certain  his  poverty. 
"The  prophets  in  some  cases  were  men  of  the  people.  In 
all  cases  they  were  men  for  the  people." 

Amos's  style  of  speech  is  greatly  influenced  by  the  environ- 
ment of  the  desolate  heights  and  the  shepherd  life.  Now  we 
see  the  fire  sweeping  across  the  fields,  now  suffer  from 
the  dreadful  consuming  drought.  Now  we  hear  the  lion's  roar, 
or  see  the  little  bird  fluttering  in  the  trap.  We  see  two  men 
meet  on  the  wide  veldt ;  it  must  be  by  appointment  or  through 
previous  acquaintance.  Again  we  see  a  shepherd  bearing  to 
his  master  the  legs  or  the  piece  of  an  ear  of  a  sheep,  pathetic 
proof  that  the  sheep  is  "gone,"  but  has  been  devoured  by 
beasts  rather  than  by  thievish  men.  We  breathe  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  heights,  lonely,  lofty,  beneath  the  stars  and  the 
sun,  the  eye  of  God. 

When  did  Amos  utter  his  message?  Approximately  760 
or  750  B.  C.  "Probably  the  impression  produced  by  the  great 
solar  eclipse  of  763  B.  C.  lies  behind  the  threat  that  'the  sun 
shall  go  down  at  noon.' "  The  date  is  about  twenty-five  years 
later  than  the  beginning  of  the  first  Greek  Olympiad,  776 
B.  C.,  and  practically  the  same  as  the  date  of  the  traditional 
founding  of  Rome,  753  B.  C. 


<  See  p.  471,  for  discussion  of  Hebrew  poetry. 
203 


[X-4]      RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

To  li'hom  did  Amos  bring  his  message?  He  uttered  some, 
certainl}',  of  his  prophecies  at  the  vile  and  sacred  altars  of 
Bethel,  in  the  presence  of  priests  and  worshipers,  gathered 
at  some  festal  occasion.  From  the  priests  he  could  expect 
no  quarter.  His  words  were  dynamite.  Among  the  wor- 
shipers, there  must  have  been  some  of  "the  inarticdlate  multi- 
tude" who  would  sympathize  with  him.  But  in  general,  the 
people  would  look  first  with  contempt,  then  with  madness, 
upon  this  man,  a  semi-foreigner  from  the  south,  whose  coun- 
try had  but  recently  been  defeated  by  Israel.  Amos's  chance 
of  speech  was  short.  The  priest  of  Bethel,  chaplain  to  the 
king,  caught  at  one  of  his  words :  "I  will  rise  up  against  the 
house  of  Jeroboam  with  the  sword."  He  sent  a  message 
of  alarm  to  the  king:  "Amos  hath  conspired  against  thee." 
He  then  turned  with  fury  upon  Amos  :  "Go  back  to  your  own 
country,  Judah,  and  there  play  the  religious  grafter,  but 
don't  prophesy  here  any  more.  This  is  the  king's  sanctuary 
and  it  is  a  royal  house"   (See  Amos  7:  10-12). 

Of  course  our  sympathy  is  with  Amos ;  but  if  a  man  should 
today  prophesy,  before  the  representatives  of  any  nation, 
death  by  the  sword  to  the  royal  or  ruling  house  of  that 
nation,  what  would  be  his  fate?  At  the  time  of  the  Boer 
War,  a  man  in  Ladysmith,  South  Africa,  was  put  into  prison 
because  he  was  "a  discourager."  How  do  we  like  the 
"defeatist"?  With  one  scorching  word  of  doom,  Amos  un- 
affrighted  left  the  sanctuary,  to  return  to  his  sheep  and  his 
trees,  to  write  out  his  message,  and  to  await  the  doom  of 
Samaria,  which  was  to  come  within  three  decades. 

Tenth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

What  was  Amos's  message?     The  message  has  been  divided 
into  :  a.  Oracles  ;  b.  Sermons  ;  c.  Visions. 

Read  aloud  Amos  i  to  get  the  swing  as  well  as  the  substance 
of  Amos's  message. 

a.  Oracles,  Chapters  i  and  2. 

Thus    saith    Jehovah :    For    three    transgressions    of 
204 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [X-4] 

Damascus,  yea,  for  four,  I  will  not  turn  away  the  pun- 
ishment thereof ;  because  they  have  threshed  Gilead 
with  threshing  instruments  of  iron.  But  I  will  send  a 
fire  into  the  house  of  Hazael,  and  it  shall  devour  the 
palaces  of  Ben-hadad,  And  I  will  break  the  bar  of 
Damascus,  and  cut  off  the  inhabitant  from  the  valley  of 
Aven,  and  him  that  holdeth  the  sceptre  from  the  house 
of  Eden ;  and  the  people  of  Syria  shall  go  into  captivity 
unto  Kir,  saith  Jehovah. — Amos  i  :  3-5. 

With  the  skill  and  power  of  a  master  of  oratory  Amos  wins 
the  attention  of  his  hearers.  "Damascus,  our  ancient  enemy, 
to  be  destroyed !  This  is  indeed  good  news."  Swift  as  light, 
the  prophet  turns  from  Damascus  in  the  north  to  Philistia : 
"Gaza,  center  of  the  slave  trade,  to  be  destroyed !  Good 
again !"  So  Ammon,  so  Moab,  near  and  dangerous  neigh- 
bors, all  to  be  punished  by  Israel's  dear,  just  God!  But  why? 
Precisely,  why?  The  popular  faith  declared:  Jehovah  is  the 
God  of  Israel ;  he  will  therefore  bless  those  who  bless  Israel, 
curse  those  who  curse  Israel.  Now  this  man  declares  that 
Jehovah  is  going  to  curse  a  nation  simply  because  that  nation 
breaks  the  bonds  of  human  brotherhood. 

Amos  has  gained  the  eager,  tense  interest  of  the  people. 
But  the  atmosphere  is  cyclonic.  Where  will  the  whirling  point 
of  the  cyclone  strike? 

Now,  with  the  slow  intensity  of  a  judge  rendering  the  death 
verdict,  Amos  turns  upon  Israel : 

Thus  saith  Jehovah :  For  three  transgressions  of 
Israel,  yea,  for  four,  I  will  not  turn  away  the  punish- 
ment thereof  ;  because  they  have  sold  the  righteous  for 
silver,  and  the  needy  for  a  pair  of  shoes — they  that 
pant  after  the  dust  of  the  earth  on  the  head  of  the 
poor,  and  turn  aside  the  way  of  the  meek :  and  a  man 
and  his  father  go  unto  the  same  maiden,  to  profane  my 
holy  name :  and  they  lay  themselves  down  beside  every 
altar  upon  clothes  taken  in  pledge ;  and  in  the  house  of 
their  God  they  drink  the  wine  of  such  as  have  been 
fined. — Amos  2 :  6-8. 

His  charges  are  oppression  of  the  poor,  fornication — pos- 
sibly   in   the   name   of    religion,    debauchery.      The    infamous 

205 


[X-4]      RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

grafters  enjoy  their  nightly  carousals  "in  the  house  of  their 
God,"  lying  upon  pledged  garments,  which,  according  to  most 
ancient  law,  must  be  returned  by  nightfall  (Exodus  22:25- 
27)  ;  drinking  the  wine  which  penitents  have  brought  in  pay- 
ment of  fines.     But  the  end  is  to  come : 

Flight  shall  perish  from  the  swift;  and  the  strong 
shall  not  strengthen  his  force ;  neither  shall  the  mighty 
deliver  himself ;  neither  shall  he  stand  that  handleth 
the  bow ;  and  he  that  is  swift  of  foot  shall  not  deliver 
himself ;  neither  shall  he  that  rideth  the  horse  deliver 
himself ;  and  he  that  is  courageous  among  the  mighty 
shall  flee  away  naked  in  that  day,  saith  Jehovah. — Amos 
2 :  14-16. 

b.  Sermons,  Chapters  3,  4,  5,  and  6. 

Read  Amos  3,  an  ancient  sermon,  very  unpopular,  very  perti- 
nent to  its  own  time  and  to  ours. 

What  we  may  call  the  first  sermon  we  find  in  3:1  to  4 :  3. 

You  only  have  I  known  of  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  :  therefore  I  will  visit  upon  you  all  your  iniquities. 
Shall  two  walk  together,  except  they  have  agreed?  Will 
a  lion  roar  in  the  forest,  when  he  hath  no  prey?  will 
a  young  lion  cry  out  of  his  den,  if  he  have  taken  noth- 
ing? Can  a  bird  fall  in  a  snare  upon  the  earth,  where 
no  gin  is  set  for  him?  shall  a  snare  spring  up  from  the 
groimd,  and  have  taken  nothing  at  all  ?  Shall  the  trum- 
pet be  blown  in  a  city,  and  the  people  not  be  afraid? 
shall  evil  befall  a  city,  and  Jehovah  hath  not  done  it? 
Surely  the  Lord  Jehovah  will  do  nothing,  except  he 
reveal  his  secret  unto  his  servants  the  prophets.  The 
lion  hath  roared;  who  will  not  fear?  The  Lord  Je- 
hovah hath  spoken ;  who  can  but  prophesv  ? — Amos 
3  :  2-8. 

The  "text"  is  this :  "You  only  have  I  known  of  all  the  fami- 
lies of  the  earth ;  therefore  I  will  visit  upon  you  all  your 
iniquities"  (3:2).  This  was  not  an  absolutely  new  idea. 
Elijah  would  have  recognized  in  Amos  a  man  after  his  own 
heart;  but  the  idea  was  utterly  opposed  to  the  popular  the- 
ology.    This  theology  declared:  "We  have  one  God,  Jehovah. 

206 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  KEW  PROPHETS    [X-4] 

Other  nations  have  their  gods,  just  as  much  alive  and  just 
as  assertive  as  our  God.  But  Jehovah  belongs  to  us,  and 
we  belong  to  Jehovah.  Very  well :  Israel  cannot  get  along 
without  Jehovah,  that's  true ;  but  also  Jehovah  cannot  get 
along  without  Israel.  If  Jehovah  should  be  disagreeable,  dis- 
courteous, so  to  speak,  to  us  Israelites,  then  we  might  give 
him  up,  banish  him  from  our  borders.  What  would  become 
of  Jehovah  then?  He  would  have  to  live,  if  he  lived  at  all, 
in  the  realm  of  discarded,  discredited  deities ;  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  he  would  be  dead !"  "You  only  have  I  known 
(chosen)  of  all  the  families  of  the  earth:  therefore" — what? 
Of  course,  "I  will  take  care  of  you,  nurse  you,  coddle  you, 
you,  the  spoiled  children  of  God."  Does  not,  must  not  God 
take  care  of  "children,  fools,  and  the  United  States"?  God 
is  a  Semitic  divine  politician,  who  must  of  necessity  cry,  "My 
country,  right  or  wrong."  Nay,  "You  only  have  I  known  of 
all  the  families  of  the  earth,  therefore  I  will  visit  upon  you 
all  your  iniquities."  To  the  average  Israelite  this  thought 
was  not  only  unpalatable,  it  was  incredible.  Some  scholars 
would  deny  to  Amos  belief  in  monotheism,  although  they 
would  acknowledge  that  he  is  "moving  toward  a  cosmic 
conception  of  God."  But  whether  he  is  self-consistent  or  not. 
he  seems  at  more  than  one  point  to  make  a  clean  break  with 
the  ancient  henotheism,°  even  that  of  Elijah  and  Elisha;  and 
to  rise  to  an  ethical  monotheism,  whose  God  is  "the  God 
of  celestial  as  well  as  earthly  legions." 

To  Amos's  audience,  Jehovah  dwelt  in  a  tent,  whose  floor 
was  the  territory  of  Palestine  (say,  150  by  70  miles  in  area).^ 
Amos  would  seem  to  imply,  if  not  to  say,  "Jehovah  dwells 
in  a  tent,  whose  floor  is  the  wide  earth,  and  whose  covering 
is  the  broad  sky.  Jehovah  can  get  along  without  you  very 
well.  He  chose  you,  and  as  he  chose  you,  he  can  reject 
you."  Amos's  monotheism  or  movement  toward  monotheism 
is  not  a  speculation.     It  is  intensely  practical.     When  religion 


6  The  worship  of  one  deity,  accompanied  by  the  recognition  of  the  existence 
of  other  deities. 

6  But  see  Bade,  "The  Old  Testament  in  the  Light  of  Today,"  p.  143  flf. 

207 


[X-4]      RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

is  married  to  ethics,  it  ceases  to  be  limited  by  geographical 
boundaries.  Morals  cannot  be  an  affair  of  geography.  If 
a  code  of  morals  holds  sway  anywhere,  it  must  of  right  hold 
sway  everywhere.  But  if  a  code  of  morals  is  universally 
imperative,  the  God  who  enunciates,  guards,  supports  that 
code  must  become  to  the  religious  man  a  universal  God. 
Now,  in  the  thought  of  Amos,  there  is  a  pure  and  permanent 
marriage  between  the  rule  of  Jehovah  and  the  rule  of  justice. 
There  is  election — oh,  yes :  Jehovah  has  elected  you,  but 
elected  you  to  the  life  of  justice.  Refuse  to  do  justice — 
you  go  to  the  scrap. 

With  grim  irony  Amos  summons  Philistines  and  Egyptians, 
"heathen,"  to  gather  upon  the  mountani  of  Samaria,  to  see 
what  shocking  things  are  happening  there,  "what  great 
tumults  are  therein,  and  what  oppressions  in  the  midst  there- 
of" (3- 9)-  Even  so  a  modern  evangelist  might  summon 
China,  India,  the  Moslem  world,  to  gaze  in  wonder  at  the 
hideous  facts  recorded  in  the  daily  papers  of  our  land.  Be- 
fore the  Great  War,  Rauschenbusch  wrote :  "Business  life 
is  the  unregenerate  section  of  our  social  order.  If  by  some 
magic  it  could  be  plucked  out  of  the  total  social  life,  and 
isolated  on  an  island,  unmitigated  by  any  other  factors  of 
our  life,  that  island  would  at  once  become  the  object  of 
a  great  missionary  crusade  for  all  Christendom."  It  may 
be  that  future  historians  will  look  back  to  the  infinite 
tragedy  of  the  Great  War  as  the  birth-hour  of  a  new  ideal 
of  business,  which  makes  the  dealings  of  the  shop  and  store 
and  office  the  finest  expressions  of  justice,  of  brotherhood 
— not  the  worthy  subjects  of  "heathen"  criticism. 

But  doom  will  fall  upon  the  unjust,  the  prosperous  ex- 
ploiters of  the  poor;  yes,  even  upon  the  altars  of  Bethel — 
ruin  to  the  Westminster  Abbey  of  northern  Israel ! — and 
doom  will  fall  as  well  upon  those  women,  kine  of  Bashan,  "fat 
and  ferocious,"  who  say  to  their  husbands,  "Bring,  and  let 
us  drink,"  though  analysis  shows  that  the  wine  is  mingled 
with  the  blood  of  men  and  women  and  little  children.  God 
plays  no  favorites. 

208 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [X-5] 

Thus  saith  Jehovah :  As  the  shepherd  rescueth  out  of 
the  mouth  of  the  hon  two  legs,  or  a  piece  of  an  ear,  so 
shall  the  children  of  Israel  be  lescued  that  sit  in 
Samaria  in  the  corner  of  a  couch,  and  on  the  silken 
cushions  of  a  bed. 

Hear  ye,  and  testify  against  the  house  of  Jacob, 
saith  the  Lord  Jehovah,  the  God  of  hosts.  For  in  the 
day  that  I  shall  visit  the  transgressions  of  Israel  upon 
him,  I  will  also  visit  the  altars  of  Beth-el;  and  the  horns 
of  the  altar  shall  be  cut  off,  and  fall  to  the  ground.  And 
I  will  smite  the  wniter-house  with  the  summer-house ; 
and  the  houses  of  ivory  shall  perish,  and  the  great 
houses  shall  have  an  end,  saith  Jehovah. 

Hear  this  word,  ye  kine  of  Bashan,  that  are  in  the 
mountain  of  Samaria,  that  oppress  the  poor,  that  crush 
the  needy,  that  say  unto  their  lords,  Bring,  and  let  us 
drink.  The  Lord  Jehovah  hath  sworn  by  his  holiness, 
that,  lo,  the  days  shall  come  upon  you,  that  they  shall 
take  you  away  with  hooks,  and  your  residue  with  fish- 
hooks. And  ye  shall  go  out  at  the  breaches,  every  one 
straight  before  her ;  and  ye  shall  cast  yourselves  into 
Harmon,  saith  Jehovah. — Amos  3  :  12-4 :  3. 

Tenth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

Read  Amos  4:4  to  6:  i,  for  a  brave  indictment  of  a  nation's 
morals  and  religion. 

We  may  perhaps  think  of  the  second  sermon  as  extending 
from  4:4-13,  and  may  find  the  text  in  4:12,  "Prepare  to 
meet  thy  God."  Like  all  the  most  enlightened  men  of  his 
day,  Amos  believed  that  disasters,  whether  in  the  realm  of 
nature  or  of  politics,  were  due  to  the  direct  intrusion  of  the 
punitive  hand  of  God.  "Cleanness  of  teeth"  (famine),  the 
mildew  or  the  palmer-worm,  pestilence  or  war  were  God's 
direct  visitations.  Amos  knew  nothing  of  what  we  style 
"secondary  causes,"  "natural  laws."  The  twentieth  century 
evangelist,  who  has  learned  from  the  book  of  Job  and  from 
the  life  and  teachings  of  Jesus,  speaking  in  the  spirit,  but  not 
in  the  language  of  Amos,  might  well  say :  "God  has  tried  to 
bring  you  back  to  himself  by  revealing  the  ruinous  effects  of 
lovelessness  upon  the  natural  resources  of  your  land,  through 

209 


[X-5]      RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

the  unerring,  unresting  operation  of  natural  laws;  but  further 
he  has  sought  to  bring  you  back  to  himself  by  revealing  the 
ruinous  effects  of  lovelessness  in  your  own  spiritual  lives  and 
in  the  lives  of  those  who  are  dear  to  you,  in  the  slow  suicide 
and  murder  of  sin." 

Come  to  Beth-el,  and  transgress ;  to  Gilgal,  and  multi- 
pi^'-  transgression ;  and  bring  your  sacrifices  every  morn- 
ing, and  your  tithes  every  three  days ;  and  offer  a  sacri- 
fice of  thanksgiving  of  that  which  is  leavened,  and  pro- 
claim f reewill-oft"erings  and  publish  them :  for  this 
pleaseth  you,  O  ye  children  of  Israel,  saith  the  Lord 
Jehovah. — Amos  4:4,  5. 

"Come  to  Bethel,"  says  Amos,  "in  your  jaunty,  joyous 
fashion,  join  sacrifice  to  sin  and  sin  to  sacrifice,  make  great 
ado  about  your  tithes  and  thank-offerings.  This  sort  of  thing 
pleases  you.  You  think  to  meet  God  with  the  merrymaking 
and  licentiousness  of  your  sanctuary.  Alas,  prepare  to  meet 
thy  God,  a  God  very  different  from  him  whom  you  think  to 
satisfy  by  sacrifice  and  sin."  And  you  can  almost  hear  the 
worshipers  whisper:  "Isn't  that  just  like  a  coarse,  uncultured 
shepherd?  How  sharp  and  strident  his  voice  is!  It  is  a 
pity  he  never  had  elocution  lessons."  A  writer  has  remarked : 
"There  is  a  Base  America ;  there  is  a  Dull  America ;  there 
is  an  Ideal  and  an  Heroic  America."  And  it  is  possible 
that  among  Amos's  hearers,  there  were,  beside  the  base  and 
the  dull,  some  who  had  in  their  hearts  sufficient  of  idealism 
and  heroism  to  know  the  idealist  and  the  hero.  But  of  these 
there  is  no  record. 

We  shall  consider  the  third  sermon  as  including  the  passage, 
5:  1-17.  Its  two  texts  are:  "Seek  Jehovah  and  ye  shall  live" 
(5:6),  "Seek  good,  and  not  evil,  that  ye  may  live"  (5:  14). 
In  dirge  meter,  Amos  sings  "the  funeral  song"  of  Israel.  But 
there  is  a  chance  to  elude  communal  death — "Seek  God, 
seek  good,  and  ye  shall  live."  Amos's  hearers  would  respond 
to  the  first  exhortation :  "We  have  been  seeking  God  all  the 
time.  We  are  seeking  God  now,  but  you  are  interrupting  us." 
The   moralist  of   today,   the  outlfnes   of   whose   "superhuman 

210 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [X-5] 

deity"  have  faded  away,  would  assent  at  once  to  the  second 
exhortation.  In  the  union  or  synthesis  of  the  two  exhorta- 
tions we  have  the  glory  of  the  Hebrew  and  of  the  Christian 
faith.  In  India  we  see  a  religion  without  ethics.  On  the 
other  hand,  Lord  Bryce  remarks  :  "The  absence  of  a  religious 
foundation  for  thought  and  conduct  is  a  grave  misfortune 
for  Latin  America."  Morality  without  religion  is  barren, 
and  when  the  sun  rises,  with  its  scorching  heat,  it  is  likely 
to  wither.  Religion  without  morals  is  de-moralizing.  "The 
holiest  cities  of  Asia  are  the  vilest."  "Seek  God  and  good, 
and  live." 

In  5 :  18  to  6 :  14  we  have  what  we  may  style  Amos's  fourth 
and  last  sermon.  We  think  of  it  as  having  two  texts :  "I 
hate,  I  despise  your  feasts,  ...  let  justice  roll  down  as 
waters,  and  righteousness  as  a  mighty  (perennial)  stream"' 
(5:21,  24),  "Shall  horses  run  upon  the  rock?  Will  one  plow 
(the  sea)  with  oxen?  that  ye  have  turned  justice  into  gall, 
and  the  fruit  of  righteousness  into  wormwood"  (6:12). 
The  sermon  deals  with  Worship,  Wickedness,  Ruin.  Con- 
sider what  this  man  says:  God  whose  rule  is  justice,  who 
plays  no  favorites,  is  a  God  who  accepts  no  substitutes  and 
makes  no  exceptions. 

Woe  unto  you  that  desire  the  day  of  Jehovah ! 
Wherefore  would  ye  have  the  day  of  Jehovah?  It  is 
darkness,  and  not  light.  As  if  a  man  did  flee  from  .a 
lion,  and  a  bear  met  him ;  or  went  into  the  house  and 
leaned  his  hand  on  the  wall,  and  a  serpent  bit  him. 
Shall  not  the  day  of  Jehovah  be  darkness,  and  not 
light?  even  very  dark,  and  no  brightness  in  it? 

I  hate,  I  despise  your  feasts,  and  I  will  take  no  de- 
light in  your  solemn  assemblies.  Yea,  though  ye  offer 
me  your  burnt-offerings  and  meal-offerings,  I  will  not 
accept  them ;  neither  will  I  regard  the  peace-offerings  of 
your  fat  beasts.  Take  thou  away  from  .me  the  noise 
of  thy  songs ;  for  I  will  not  hear  the  melody  of  thy 
viols.  But  let  justice  roll  down  as  waters,  and  right- 
eousness as  a  mighty  stream. 

Did  \'e  bring  unto  me  sacrifices  and  offerings  in  the 
wilderness  forty  years,  O  houje  of  Israel? — Amos  5: 
18-25. 

2TT 


[X-5]      RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Jehovah  accepts  no  substitutes.  Think  of  it :  every  shrine 
a  holy  slaughterhouse,  every  place  of  prayer  a  place  of 
sacrifice ;  religion  identified  with  ritual.  Yet  Amos  would 
actually  say  that  sacrifices  were  no  essential  part  of  the  wor- 
ship of  Israel  in  her  pristine  age  (5:25).  He  would  go 
further,  and  say  that  the  very  sacrifices  which  his  hearers 
were  making,  even  while  he  was  speaking,  were  a  stench  in 
the  nostrils  of  Jehovah ;  that  their  praise  was  noise.  "I 
hate,  I  despise  your  feasts,  and  I  will  take  no  delight  in  your 
solemn  assemblies.  .  .  .  Take  thou  away  from  me  the  noise 
of  thy  songs"  (5:21,  23).  Do  the  words  seem  commonplace, 
superfluous  ?  They  mean  this  :  Jehovah  has  less  than  no  use 
for  our  entire  organization  of  religious  worship,  looks  with 
disgust  upon  our  stained  glass  windows,  listens  with  abhor- 
rence to  our  deep-toned  organs,  our  surpliced  choirs,  regards 
with  contempt  our  Y.  M.  C.  A.  meetings,  our  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E. 
meetings,  except  as  our  services  lead  to  service,  except  as 
our  ritual  leads  to  righteousness,  except  as  our  chapel  exer- 
cises help  to  keep  our  college  life  free  from  drunkenness 
and  deception  and  rottenness,  except  as  from  beneath  the 
altar  of  the  sanctuary  there  flows  a  perennial  stream  of  fair 
and  honorable  dealings  with  men — Justice.  Are  those  words 
even  today  commonplace,  superfluous?  At  the  smoking  altars 
of  Bethel,  amid  the  gay  worshipers  and  the  greedy  priests, 
the  words  were  abhorrent,  heretical,  blasphemous. 

Since  his  day,  many  another  man  has  repeated  Amos's 
words. 

"Well  I  know  who'll  take  the  credit — all  the  clever  chaps  that 

followed — 
Came,  a  dozen  men  together,  never  knew  my  desert  fears; 
Tracked  me  by  the  camps   I'd  quitted,   used  the  waterholes 

I'd  hollowed. 
They'll  go  back  and  do  the  talking.     They'll  be  called  the 

Pioneers  I" 

But  Amos  found  God's  country  of  true  religion.    God's  whis- 
per came  to  him. 

Jehovah,  who  in  his  rule  of  justice  accepts  no  substitutes, 
212 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [X-6] 

admits  no  exceptions.  "Shall  horses  run  up  a  cliff,  shall  one 
plow  the  sea  with  oxen?  You  have  imagined  that  Jehovah 
is  lawless.  I  tell  you  that  Jehovah  is  law."  To  the  people, 
their  deity  had  absorbed  into  himself  the  characteristics  pi 
the  baalim  he  had  supplanted — was  impulsive,  changeful,  pas- 
sionate, lawless,  as  the  beast,  the  symbol  of  their  worship. 
"God  is  law.  You  can't  any  more  successfully  turn  justice 
to  gall  than  horses  can  run  up  a  cliff;  you  can't  turn  the  fruit 
of  righteousness  into  wormwood  any  more  than  you  can 
plow  the  sea  with  oxen." 

"City  of   festering  streets  by  Misery  trod, 
Where  half-fed,  half-clad  children  swarm  unshod. 
Whilst  thou  dost  rear  thy  splendid  fane  to  God."^ 

The  walls  of  your  shrine  will  fall  upon  you,  unless  within 
those  walls  you  vow  to  practice  justice,  and  preach  that  "None 
should  have  cake  until  all  have  bread."  If  you  break  the 
Law,  the  Law  will  break  you.  "He  that  will  not  be  ruled 
by  the  rudder  shall  be  ruled  by  the  rock." 
We  turn  from  the  Sermons  to  the  Visions. 

Tenth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

c.  Visions,  7:1  to  9 :  8a. 

A  vision  of  a  plague  of  locusts  is  followed  by  that  of  a  terri- 
ble drought,  which  would  have  eaten  up  the  land  and  which 
"devoured  the  great  deep."  The  third  vision  removes  the 
scene  from  "the  sphere  of  nature  to  the  sphere  of  politics." 
God's  plumbline  falls,  as  it  were,  down  the  wall  of  Israel's 
civic  life,  and  reveals  the  crooked,  wicked  workmanship,  the 
unspeakable  obliquity  of  the  nation  {7 '■7-9)-  In  the  fourth 
vision,  we  see  a  basket  of  late  fall  fruit  {Qaits).  Sharply 
the  prophet  speaks :  "The  Qdts — the  end  is  come."  It  is 
the  end  of  "the  life  year"  of  the  Northern  Kingdom. 

The  prophet's  last  picture  of  doom  is  almost  incomparably 
dreadful. 


Quoted  in  the  admirable  commentary  by  McFadyen,  "A  Cry  for  Justice. 
213 


[X-6]      RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

I  saw  the  Lord  standing  beside  the  altar :  and  he 
said,  Smite  the  capitals,  that  the  thresholds  may  shake ; 
and  break  them  in  pieces  on  the  head  of  all  of  them; 
and  I  will  slay  the  last  of  them  with  the  sword :  there 
.  shall  not  one  of  them  flee  away,  and  there  shall  not 
one  of  them  escape.  Though  they  dig  into  Sheol, 
thence  shall  my  hand  take  them;  and  though  they  climb 
up  to  heaven,  thence  will  I  bring  them  down.  And 
though  they  hide  themselves  in  the  top  of  Carmel,  I 
will  search  and  take  them  out  thence ;  and  though  they 
be  hid  from  my  sight  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  thence 
will  I  command  the  serpent,  and  it  shall  bite  them.  And 
though  they  go  into  captivity  before  their  enemies, 
thence  will  I  command  the  sword,  and  it  shall  slay 
them :  and  I  will  set  mine  eyes  upon  them  for  evil,  and 
not  for  good. — Amos  9 :  1-4. 

"Bethel,  where  our  ancestor,  Jacob,  saw  the  staircase  of  the 
angels ;  Bethel,  where  our  fathers  and  we  have  worshiped  with 
ever  increasing  splendor  and  sacrifice ;  Bethel,  to  be  smitten 
by  the  very  God  {El)  of  Bethel;  and  we  ourselves  to  be 
chased,  hounded,  snatched  from  Sheol,  called  down  from 
heaven,  discovered  amid  the  robber  caves  of  Carmel,  bitten 
by  the  serpent  of  the  great  deep,  smitten  by  the  sword  of 
the  enemy !" 

The  popular  theology  looked  forward  to  The  Day,  The 
Day  of  Jehovah.  In  this  day,  apparently  of  cosmic  cataclysm, 
the  enemies  of  Jehovah,  always  identified  with  the  enemies 
of  Israel,  were  to  be  overthrown  in  ruin.  The  Day  would 
usher  in  the  perfect  peace  and  prosperity  of  Jehovah's 
favorite,  Israel.  Amos,  too,  looked  forward  to  The  Day, 
but  not  as  a  time  of  supernatural  cataclysm.  In  the  noise 
of  the  arms  of  Assyria,  he  had  heard  the  lion's  roar.  In 
the  invasion  of  Assyria  or  some  other  foreign  foe,  an  his- 
torical event  growing  out  of  previous  events,  he  saw  the 
approaching  Day  of  Jehovah.  But — another  contrast  with  the 
popular  view — the  prophet  foresaw  The  Day  as  the  day  not 
of  Israel's  triumph,  but  of  her  utter  desolation.  "Where- 
fore would  ye  have  the  day  of  Jehovah?  It  is  darkness,  and 
not  light."     A  man  flees  from  a  lion,  a  bear  meets  him.     A 

214 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [X-7] 

man  slips  into  his  house,  leans  his  hand  against  the  wall,  a 
serpent  bites  him  (see  5:  18,  19). 

Into  the  record  of  the  visions  there  is  introduced  a  pas- 
sage which  has  been  thought  by  some  to  belong  to  a  later 
period.     It  deserves  special  attention : 

Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah,  that 
I  will  send  a  famine  in  the  land,  not  a  famine  of  bread, 
nor  a  thirst  for  water,  but  of  hearing  the  words  of 
Jehovah.  And  they  shall  wander  from  sea  to  sea,  and 
from  the  north  even  to  the  east ;  they  shall  run  to  and 
fro  to  seek  the  word  of  Jehovah,  and  shall  not  find  it. 
In  that  day  shall  the  fair  virgins  and  the  young  men 
faint  for  thirst. — Amos  8:  11-13. 

Pandita  Ramabai  tells  us  that  after  her  father  and  mother 
and  sister  had  died  of  starvation,  she  and  her  brother  wan- 
dered from  the  south  of  India  to  the  north  of  India,  and  back 
again  to  Calcutta,  seeking  sufficiency  of  food.  For  four  years 
they  suffered  from  scarcity.  In  famine  times,  before  the 
missionary's  bungalow  may  be  seen  throngs  of  living  skele- 
tons, mothers  offering  their  children  for  four  rupees  apiece. 
The  prophecy  speaks  of  a  worse  famine  than  any  of  the 
material  world :  not  a  famine  of  bread,  nor  a  thirst  for  water, 
but  of  hearing  the  word  of  Jehovah.  That  would  be  a  famine 
worth  talking  about!  Do  we  really  believe  that?  In  all 
the  universe  let  there  be  no  word  from  God,  no  word  regard- 
ing the  meaning  of  history,  no  word  regarding  the  meaning 
of  the  great  men  who  have  thought  they  spoke  for  God,  no 
word  regarding  the  meaning  of  personal  life  and  growth, 
no  word  regarding  the  sense  of  guilt  which  follows  what  we 
call  sin,  no  word  regarding  death  and  the  after-death :  "In 
that  day  shall  the  fair  virgins  and  the  young  men  faint  for 
thirst."  Elsewhere  the  prophecy  thinks  of  God's  punishment 
as  executed  in  the  external  world.  In  this  passage  it  enters 
the  realm  of  the  inner  life,  which  was  Jesus'  home. 

Tenth  Week,  Seventh  Day, 

In  the   midst  of   Amos's   visions   of   doom,   there   is   one 
215 


[X-7]      RELIGIOUS  EXPEKIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

verse  worthy  the  careful  thought  of  us  who  are  separated 
from  our  brothers  by  so  many  class  and  caste  distinctions  : 

Are  ye  not  as  the  children  of  the  Ethiopians  unto 
me,  O  children  of  Israel?  saith  Jehovah.  Have  not  I 
brought  up  Israel  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  the 
Philistines  from  Caphtor,  and  the  Syrians  from  Kir? 
Amos  9 :  7. 

Jehovah's  providence  is  not  provincial,  but  universal.  "Your 
God  was  as  much  concerned  with  the  migrations  of  the  Philis- 
tines whom  you  hate,  of  the  Syrians  whom  you  hate,  as  with 
your  migrations,  whom  alone  he  is  supposed  to  love.  He 
has  indeed  known  you,  chosen  you  above  all  the  families  of 
the  earth,  chosen  you  for  salvation  on  condition  of  your 
service  of  justice." 

We  are  fond  of  talking  about  the  hand  of  God  which  rested 
on  the  hand  of  the  helmsman  who  steered  the  Mayflower 
across  the  Atlantic.  Is  it  not  possible  that  our  God  may  be 
just  as  much  interested  in  the  migration  of  the  Negroes,  who 
came  to  America  before  the  Pilgrims ;  as  much  interested 
in  those  later  pilgrims,  Syrians,  Slavs,  Italians,  whom  we 
discuss  as  "our  immigrant  problem"?  One  is  perhaps  tempted 
to  read  too  much  into  the  prophet's  question;  but  one  likes 
to  think  that  had  he  known  Jesus,  he  might  have  written 
words  like  those  of  Paul :  "There  can  be  neither  Jew  nor 
Greek,  there  can  be  neither  bond  nor  free,  there  can  be  no 
male  and  female ;  for  ye  all  are  one  man  in  Christ  Jesus" 
(Gal.  3:28). 

The  last  verses  of  Amos  (9:8b-i5)  apparently  belong  to 
a  later  age.  In  Amos  we  have  no  message  of  the  Messiah, 
no  emphasis  on  the  individual,  no  proclamation  of  the  after- 
life. But  the  man's  message  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new 
era  for  religion.  "So  fundamental,"  says  a  writer,  "is  this 
recognition  of  the  ethical  character  of  true  religion  that  out 
of  it  have  grown  the  positive  gains  of  the  entire  subsequent 
development  of  Israel's  religion." 

In  figures  which  hold  us  like  a  vise,  with  a  courage  caught 
216 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XI-i] 

from  Jehovah  himself,  the  prophet  risked  his  life  to  tell 
Israel  this:  Jehovah's  reign  is  a  reign  of  justice,  which  knows 
no  favorites,  accepts  no  substitutes,  admits  no  exceptions. 
Obedience  to  the  good  and  to  the  good  God  is  life.  Dis- 
obedience is  (^oom.  Jehovah's  providence  is  not  provincial, 
but  universal. 

Out  into  the  night  of  Israel's  doom  Amos  looked,  desolate, 
but  undismayed. 

"It  is  glory  enough  to  have  shouted  the  name 
Of  the  living  God  in  the  teeth  of  an  army  of  foes ; 
To  have  thrown  all  prudence  and  forethought  away 
And  for  once  to  have  followed  the  call  of  the  soul 
Out  into  the  danger  of  darkness,  of  ruin  and  death. 
To  have  counseled  with  right,  not  success,  for  once, 
Is  glory  enough  for  one  day." 

Eleventh  Week,  First  Day. 

3.  HosEA,  THE  Man  and  the  Message 

Read  Hosea  i,  4,  and  7  to  appreciate  the  passion  and  power 
of  the  prophet. 

It  has  been  said  of  Hosea,  "Of  all  the  prophets  he  best 
rewards  careful  study,"  and  again,  "He  was  the  most  original 
and  constructive  of  all  the  religious  teachers  before  the 
Exile." 

As  we  have  seen,  Amos  was  a  man  of  the  Southern  King- 
dom, and  therefore  at  Bethel  a  semi-foreigner.  Hosea  was 
a  citizen  of  northern  Israel,  a  man  with  a  passion  for 
patriotism.  Amos  resembles  in  some  aspects  the  "evangelist" 
who  comes  to  your  city  for  a  few  days  or  weeks,  leaves  the 
people  staggered,  stunned,  or  stirred,  but  not  necessarily 
repentant.  Hosea  is  the  "pastor,"  who  year  after  year  seeks 
as  a  good  shepherd  to  lead  his  flock  out  into  the  places  where 
God's  green  pastures  are. 

There  is  much  difference  of  opinion  even  among  recent 
writers  as  to  the  experience  of  the  man  Hosea,  but  the  fol- 
lowing, more  familiar  interpretation  is  believed  to  be  correct. 

217 


[XI-i]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Hosea  married  a  woman  by  the  name  of  Gomer.  That  he 
beHeved  her  at  the  time  of  his  marriage  to  be  immoral  seems 
improbable,  if  not  incredible.  A  son  is  born  of  the  marriage, 
whom  the  prophet  names  Jezreel,  after  the  bloody  ground 
on  which  the  fanatical  Jehu  massacred  the  family  of  Ahab 
(see  discussion,  p.  182).  "Yet  a  little  while,  and  I  will 
avenge  the  blood  of  Jezreel  upon  the  house  of  Jehu"  (1:4). 
A  second  child  is  born,  whom  possibly  the  prophet  recognizes 
as  the  offspring  of  his  wife's  illicit  love.  "Call  her  name 
Lo-ruhamah"  (Unpitied).  Gomer  bears  a  third  child,  a  son, 
whom  Hosea  calls  suggestively,  "Lo-ammi"  (Not  my  peo- 
ple). At  last  the  faithless  wife  is  completely  estranged  from 
her  husband  and  follows  her  paramour,  only  to  sink  into 
that  slavery  which  in  those  days  as  in  these  awaited  the 
prostitute.  While  Gomer  has  given  him  up,  Hosea  cannot 
give  her  up.  In  his  love  and  in  his  pity,  taught  him  by 
Jehovah,  Hosea  buys  the  poor  creature  at  the  price  of  a  slave. 
He  cannot  take  her  back  at  once  into  the  sacred  relation 
of  wife  to  him.  There  must  be  long  discipline,  during  which 
she  shall  be  no  man's  wife,  neither  his  nor  another's   (3:3). 

And  Jehovah  said  unto  me,,  Go  again,  love  a  woman 
beloved  of  her  friend,  and  an  adulteress,  even  as  Je- 
hovah loveth  the  children  of  Israel,  though  they  turn 
unto  other  gods,  and  love  cakes  of  raisins.  So  I 
bought  her  to  me  for  fifteen  pieces  of  silver,  and  a 
homer  of  barley,  and  a  half-homer  of  barley;  and  I 
said  unto  her,  Thou  shalt  abide  for  me  many  days ; 
thou  shalt  not  play  the  harlot,  and  thou  shalt  not  be 
any  man's  wife :  so  will  I  also  be  toward  thee.  For 
the  children  of  Israel  shall  abide  many  days  without 
king,  and  without  prince,  and  without  sacrifice,  and 
without  pillar,  and  without  ephod  or  teraphim. — Hos. 
3:  1-4- 

"Weeping  blinding  tears, 
I  took  her  to  myself,  and  paid  the  price. 
Strange  contrast  to  the  dowry  of  her  youth, 
When  first  I  wooed  her ;  and  she  came  again 
Beneath  my  roof;  yet  not  for  me 
The  tender  hopes  of  the  departed  years, 

218 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  FKOFHUIS    LAi-2j 

And  not  for  her  the  freedom  and  the  love 

I  then  bestowed  so  freely.     Sterner  rule 

Is  needed  now.    In  silence  and  alone, 

In  shame  and  sorrow,  wailing,  fast,  and  prayer, 

She  must  blot  out-  the  stain  that  made  her  life 

One  long  pollution." 

But  Rosea  believed   that  Jehovah  had   spoken  to  him  in 
each  experience  of  anguish, 

"Through  all  the  mystery  of  my  years 
There  runs  a  purpose  which  forbids 
The  wail  of   passionate  despair.     I  have  not  lived 
At  random,  as  a  soul  which  God  forsakes; 
But  evermore  his  spirit  led  me  on, 
Prompted  each  purpose,  taught  my  lips  to  speak, 
Stirred  up  within  me  that  deep  love,  and  now 
Reveals  the  inner  secret." 

Amos  had  looked  out  from  his  desert  watchtower  upon 
the  world  of  politics,  and  as  he  looked,  he  heard  "the  lion's 
roar."  Rosea  looked  in  upon  the  ruins  of  his  own  home, 
then  past  the  threshold  out  upon  the  dishonor  and  the  dis- 
soluteness of  his  people,  which  he  knew  so  well  how  to 
describe  (see  p.  20off.),  and  as  he  looked  he  knew  the  pain 
at  the  heart  of  an  outraged  God,  and  the  love  that  never 
dies.  "Jehovah  said  unto  me,"  "Rear  the  word  of  Jehovah." 
So  completely  did  the  man  identify  himself  with  God  that 
he  uttered  Jehovah's  message  as  if,  to  use  Jeremiah's  bold 
phrase,  he  were  himself  "Jehovah's  mouth." 

Eleventh  Week,  Second  Day. 

Read  Rosea,  Chapters  lo  to  13.    We  can  afford  to  study  with 
care  this  prophecy,  the  chart  by  which  later  voyagers  found 
their  way  in  a  new  world  of  religion. 
We  despair  of  a  satisfactory  chapter  analysis  of  the  book. 

It  has  suffered  much  in  transmission.     Then,  too,  it  is  hard 

to  analyze  the  cry  of  a  patriot  who  sees  his  nation  falling 

to  ruin. 

219 


lAi-2j    KtUGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Failing  a  chapter  analysis,  we  attempt  a  brief  analysis  of 
the  message. 

a.  Hosea  seeks  to  win  b^ck  his  people  by  reminding  them 
of  Jehovah's  past  attitude  toivard  Israel.  This  attitude  he 
describes  by  the  use  of  three  figures. 

(i)  Jehovah  has  been  as  a  kindly  master  to  a  weary  beast 
You  have  seen  two  drivers  on  a  slippery  pavement.  One 
driver's  horse  stumbles,  the  driver  beats  him,  the  horse 
plunges  to  his  feet,  to  slip  the  more.  The  other  driver  -ets 
down  from  his  wagon,  eases  the  horse's  heavy  collar,  places 
food  before  him.  Even  so  'T  was  to  them  as  they  that 
htt  up  the  yoke  on  their  jaws;  and  I  set  food  before  them" 
(11:4). 

(2)   Jehovah  has  been  as  a  loving  father  toward  his  child 
In  one  of  the  exquisite  passages  of  the  book,  we  read: 

When    Israel    was    a    child,    then    I    loved    him,    and 

called  my  son  out  of  Egypt.  The  more  the  prophets 

called    them,    tne    more    they  went    from    them :    they 

sacrificed    unto    the    Baalim,  and    burned    incense    to 

graven  images.     Yet  I  taught  Ephraim  to  walk;  I  took 

them  on  my  arms;   but  they  knew   not  that   I  healed 
them. — Hos.  11:1-3. 

He  thinks  of  the  nation  as  borne  in  the  everlasting  arms 
taught  as  a  little  child  to  walk,  healed  by  the  Father-the 
Father  whose  healing  touch  is,  alas,  unrecognized. 

(3)   Jehovah  has  been  as  a  devoted  husband  to  a  foolish 
and  faithless  wife.    This  thought  lies  near  the  surface  of  the 
entire  prophecy.     The  figure  is  not  new.     From  the  earliest 
days  of  Semitic  religion,  the  god  of  a  land  was  said  to  be 
married  to  the  land;  he  was  the  baal,  the  lord,  the  possessor 
the   husband   of   the   land,   the   people.     But   the   union   was 
regarded  as  physical  rather  than  ethical.     The  baal  granted 
fertility   to    the    land— the   corn,    the    oil,    and    the    wine.      It   ' 
IS  the  glory  of  our  prophet  not  that  he  believed  Jehovah  to 
be    the    husband    of    Israel,    but    that    he    believed    Jehovah's 
love  to  be  an  ethical  love-which  seeks,  seeks,  evermore  seeks 
the  answering  love,  the  "leal-love"  of  his  people. 

220 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS   [XI-3] 

Israel's  response  to  Jehovah's  attitude  in  the  past  has  been 
precisely  that  of  the  foolish  and  the  faithless.  Now  and 
again  there  has  been  "light  repentance."  Quite  cheerily  they 
say  to  each  other:  "Come,  and  let  us  return  unto  Jehovah; 
for  he  hath  torn,  and  he  will  heal  us ;  he  hath  smitten,  and  he 
will  bind  us  up"  (6:  i).  Don't  worry.  We  have  slipped  in 
some  matter  of  ritual ;  we  have  failed  somewhere ;  but  he 
is  "der  Hebe  Gott,"  temporarily  annoyed,  but  "his  going 
forth  is  sure  as  the  morning;  and  he  will  come  unto  us 
as  the  rain,  as  the  latter  rain  that  watereth  the  earth"  (6:3). 
"O  Ephraim,  what  shall  I  do  unto  thee?"  This  "morning 
cloud"  goodness,  this  "perpetual  backsliding"!  Israel  is  likfe 
the  victim  of  a  virulent  disease  who  will  not  go  to  the  only 
physician  who  can  cure  him.  "It  is  thy  destruction,  O  Israel, 
that  thou  art  against  me,  against  thy  help"   (13:9).' 

Have  we  ever  stopped  for  one  moment  to  think  what  would 
be  needful  to  transform  this  world  into  the  world  ideal? 
Surely  this :  that  each  of  us,  you,  and  you,  and  you,  and  I, 
all  the  way  around,  should  respond  with  leal-love  to  God, 
our  help,  our  saviour.  It  is  our  destruction  that  we  refuse. 
Self-enslavement  to  the  Saviour — this  alone  is  salvation. 

Eleventh  Week,  Third  Day. 

I  found  Israel  like  grapes  in  the  wilderness ;  I  saw 
your  fathers  as  the  first-ripe  in  the  fig-tree  at  its  first 
season :  but  they  came  to  Baal-peor,  and  consecrated 
themselves  unto  the  shameful  thing,  and  became 
abominable  like  that  which  they  loved.  As  for 
Ephraim,  their  glory  shall  fly  away  like  a  bird :  there 
shall  be  no  birth,  and  none  with  child,  and  no  concep- 
tion. Though  they  bring  up  their  children,  yet  will  I 
bereave  them,  so  that  not  a  man  shall  be  left:  yea,  woe 
also  to  them  when  I  depart  from  them!  Ephraim, 
like  as  1  have  seen  Tyre,  is  planted  in  a  pleasant  place : 
but  Ephraim  shall  bring  out  his  children  to  the  slayer. 
Give  them,  O  Jehovah — what  wilt  thou  give?  give  them 
a  miscarrying  womb  and  dry  breasts.  All  their  wicked- 
ness is  in  Gilgal ;   for  there  I  hated  them :  because  of 


8  For  different  translation,  see  Int.  Com.,  Amos  and  Hosea,  p.  398. 
221 


IXI-3]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

the  wickedness  of  their  doings  I  will  drive  them  out  of 
my  house ;  I  will  love  them  no  more ;  all  their  princes 
are  revolters.  Ephraim  is  smitten,  their  root  is  dried 
up,  they  shall  bear  no  fruit:  yea,  though  they  bring 
forth,  yet  will  I  slay  the  beloved  fruit  of  their  womb. 
My  God  will  cast  them  away,  because  they  did  not 
hearken  unto  him ;  and  they  shall  be  wanderers  among 
the  nations. — Hos.  9:  10-17. 

b.  As  Hosea  turns  to  Jehovah's  future  attitude  toward 
Israel,  he  thinks  of  it  as  bearing  two  aspects :  outward 
severity ;  yearning,  passionate,  redeeming  love. 

The  outward  severity  is  expressed  with  a  vehemence  sur- 
passing, if  possible,  that  of  Amos.  "Ephraim  is  joined  to 
idols;  let  him  alone"  (4:  17).  Now  Jehovah  is  a  lion,  tearing 
and  going  away;  now  a  leopard,^  now  a  bear  robbed  of  her 
whelps ;  now  a  moth,  slowly  destroying  the  entire  fabric  of 
Israel  (13:7,  8;  5:  12-14).  Famine,  war,  sterility,  and  "dim- 
inution of  population"  (5:8;  8:7;  9:11-15)  await  Israel's 
faithlessness  and  folly. 

But  the  outward  severity  is  after  all  consonant  with  Je- 
hovah's yearning,  passionate,  redeeming  love.  This  love  is 
sung  in  words  which  lay  bare  the  prophet's  own  heart,  as 
they  reveal  the  heart  of  God.  "How  shall  I  give  thee  up, 
Ephraim?  how  shall  I  cast  thee  off.  Israel?  how  shall  I  make 
thee  as  Admah?  how  shall  I  set  thee  as  Zeboiim?  [cities 
destroyed  with  Sodom  and  Gomorrah]  my  heart  is  turned 
within  me,  my  compassions  are  kindled  together"  (11:8). 
Punishment  itself  is  not  so  much  the  working  out  of  the  law 
of  justice,  as  with  Amos;  it  is  actually  the  expression  of 
fathomless,  endless  love. 

As  the  just  God  of  Amos  accepts  no  substitute  for  justice, 
so  the  loving  God  of  Hosea  is  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than 
his  people's  answering  love,  and,  mark,  his  people's  outreach- 
ing  love.  No  substitutes  will  serve.  Oh,  yes,  they  make 
idols  according  to  their  understanding  or  their  model ;  great 
grown-up  men  kiss  the  calves  (13:2);  and  Hosea  hurls  his 
scornful  laughter  at  them — God's  laughter,  it  has  been  called. 
(Hosea  is  perhaps  the  first  of  the  prophets  definitely  to  de- 

2.2.2 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS   [XI-3] 

nounce  the  "calf  cult  as  contrary  to  the  worship  of  Jehovah.") 
Can  God  be  satisfied  with  that  sort  of  thing?  Well,  surely 
he  would  be  satisfied  with  sacrifice?  A  young  fellow  broke 
his  mother's  heart  by  his  debaucheries,  yet  now  and  then 
would  send  her  a  bunch  of  La  France  roses.  Wasn't  she 
pleased,  satisfied?  "I  desire  goodness,  and  not  sacrifice;  and 
the  knowledge  of  God  more  than  burnt-ofiferings"  (6:6). 
"That  which  will  gain  his  favor  is  love  ...  in  which  obedi- 
ence is  emphasized.  This  love  is  not  love  for  God  as  dis- 
tinguished from  love  for  one's  fellow-men,  but  both."^ 

This  is  emphatically  one  of  the  greatest  words  of  the 
prophecy,  indeed  of  all  prophecy.  Would  Rosea  have  abol- 
ished sacrifice?  He  would  have  assuredly  subordinated  it. 
And  we  may  believe  that  the  prophet  would  have  seen  with 
perfect  indifference  the  rains  washing  out  the  bloodstains  of 
every  sacrificial  altar,  and  about  the  altar  pastures  growing 
for  the  sheep  and  cattle  saved  from  sacrifice.  In  Hosea's 
thought,  upreaching  love  for  God  and  outreaching  love  for 
man— these  and  these  alone  satisfy,  and  these  completely 
satisfy  the  loving,  longing  heart  of  God.  Jesus,  who  knew 
our  prophet  well,  turned  upon  the  Pharisees,  who  objected 
to  his  eating  with  publicans  and  sinners,  and  bade  them 
learn  what  the  word  meant,  "I  desire  mercy,  and  not  sacri- 
fice" (Matt.  9:  13). 

But  does  the  prophet  see  any  hope  for  his  people?  Usually 
he  sees  destruction  impending— destruction  certain,  universal, 
irremediable 

Though  he  be  fruitful  among  his  brethren,  an  east 
•wind  shall  come,  the  breath  of  Jehovah  comnig  up 
from  the  wilderness;  and  his  spring  shall  become  dry, 
and  his  fountain  shall  be  dried  up :  he  shall  make  spoil 
of  the  treasure  of  all  goodly  vessels.  Samaria  shall 
bear  her  guilt;  for  she  hath  rebelled  against  her  God: 
they  shall  fall  by  the  sword;  their  infants  shall  be 
dashed  in  pieces,  and  their  women  with  child  shall  be 
ripped  up.— Hos.  13 :  I5,  16. 


9  Int.  Com.,  Amos  and  Hosea,  p.  286. 
223 


[XI-4]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Her  ruler  shall  be  as  a  chip  or  as  foam  on  the  face  of 
the  waters.  *  The  image  of  the  shrine  of  Bethel  (called 
Beth-Aven,  house  of  delusion,  instead  of  house  of  God)  will 
be  carried  off  as  a  present  to  Assyria   (10:5-7). 

Eleventh  Week,  Fourth  Dsuy. 

Many  of  Hosea's  words  of  hope  are  usually  regarded  as 
utterances  of  a  later  age.  But  no  great  preacher  is  always 
and  everywhere  a  prophet  of  evil.  If  Hosea  dared  to  hope 
that  his  faithless  wife  might  be  redeemed  through  discipline, 
may  he  not  have  cherished  a  like  hope  for  Israel?  Some  of 
the  "hope"  passages  belong  to  a  later  time,  but  the  venture 
of  hope  is  not  alien  to  the  heart  of  Hosea. 

We  could  not  well  spare  the  words  which  assure  us  that 
still 

"From  the  gloom  his  brightness   streameth." 

Take  a  word  like  this:  "Behold,  I  will  allure  her"  (2:14). 
We  speak  often  of  the  allurements  of  sin.  We  excuse  our- 
selves for  vice  by  saying,  "The  temptation  was  too  strong  for 
me."  Have  we  ever  thought  of  the  allurements  of  God? 
A  writer  has  remarked :  "There  is  no  place  in  the  world 
where  temptation  to  evil  is  so  slight  as  in  college,  because 
there  is  no  place  in  the  world  where  temptation  to  excellence 
is  so  strong."  And  yet  how  many  a  young  fellow  has  thrown 
up  his  hands  in  the  presence  of  college  temptations !  Think 
of  the  allurements  of  the  good  and  the  good  of  God : 

(i)  "I  will  give  her  .  .  .  the  valley  of  Achor  for  a  door 
of  hope"  (2:15).  The  valley  was  the  dismal  ravine  of 
Israel's  trouble,  due  to  the  treachery  of  Achan  (see  p.  125). 
Now  if  Israel  will  but  respond  to  the  call  of  Jehovah's  love, 
the  very  valley  of  her  humiliation,  defeat,  disgrace,  shall 
\  ecome  a  door  opening  out  upon  a  glorious  future.  You 
remember  the  man  who  said,  "I  had  to  be  thrown  flat  on 
my  back  before  I  would  look  up."  How  many  a  drunkard, 
how   many  a   debauchee,   through   God's   transfiguring  grace, 

224 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS   [XI-5] 

has  found  the  valley  of  his  troubling  the  door  of  hope,  and 
gained  harmony  with  his  best  self. 

(2)  "And  in  that  day  will  I  make  a  covenant  for  them 
with  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  with  the  birds  of  the 
heavens,  and  with  the  creeping  things  of  the  ground.  .  .  .  And 
it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  I  will  answer,  saith  Jehovah, 
I  will  answer  the  heavens,  and  they  shall  answer  the  earth ; 
and  the  earth  shall  answer  the  grain,  and  the  new  wine,  and 
the  oil;  and  they  shall  answer  Jezreel"  (or  Israel)  (2:18, 
21,  22). 

Israel,  responsive  to  the  love-call  of  Jehovah,  may  hope 
for  harmony  with  nature.  Such  harmony  St.  Francis  knew; 
of  such  harmony  Robert  Burns  dreamed,  though  his  colter 
broke  the  social  union  between  himself  and  the  wee  bit 
mousie,  his  poor  earthborn  companion  and  fellow-mortal. 

(3)  Again:  "I  will  break  the  bow  and  the  sword  and  the 
battle  out  of  the  land,  and  will  make  them  to  lie  down 
safely"  (2:  18).  Harmony  between  man  and  man!  Kipling 
writes  of  "The  Peace  of  Dives": 

"Then  answered  cunning  Dives :  'Do  not  gold  and  hate  abide 
At  the  heart  of  every  Magic,  yea,  and  senseless  fear  beside? 

With   gold    and    fear    and   hate 

I  have  harnessed  state  to  state. 
And  with  hate  and  fear  and  gold  their  hates  are  tied.'  " 

But  neither  hate  nor  fear  nor  gold,  nor  all  of  these  together, 
can  bring  peace  to  the  peoples.  The  loving  God  winning  the 
upreaching,  outreaching  love  of  men,  alone  will  break  the 
battle  out  of  the  land. 

Eleventh  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

In  the  last  chapter  of  the  book,  we  have  these  gracious 
words:  "I  will  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel"  (14:5).  Thus 
Hosea,  or  one  who  in  the  later  days  shared  his  spirit,  looks 
out  beyond  the  desolation  to  the  restoration  of  Jehovah's 
people;  God  himself  coming  down  upon  Israel,  as  does  the 
night-mist    upon    the    valleys    of    southern    California,    quiet, 

225 


[XI-5]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

without  advertising,  life-giving.  It  is  clear  that  Hosea  him- 
self did  not  shrink  from  the  thought  that  continued  sin  may 
thwart  the  first  best  purpose  of  God's  love.  Two  little  chil- 
dren were  discussing  hell.  Said  one:  "Hell  is  a  place." 
"No,"  said  the  other:  "Hell  is  a  swear-word."  Many  would 
accept  as  comprehensive  the  latter  definition.  But  George 
Adam  Smith,  commenting  on  Hosea,  well  says :  "Believe  then 
in  hell,  because  you  believe  in  the  love  of  God;  not  in  a 
hell  to  which  God  condemns  men  of  his  own  will  and  pleas- 
ure, but  a  hell  into  which  men  cast  themselves  from  the 
very  face  of  his  love  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  place  has  been 
painted  as  a  place  of  fires.  But  when  we  contemplate  that 
men  come  to  it  with  the  holiest  flames  in  their  natures 
quenched,  we  shall  justly  feel  that  it  is  rather  a  dreary  waste 
of  ash  and  cinder,  strewn  with  snow,  for  there  is  no  life 
there ;  and  there  is  no  life  there  because  there  is  no  love, 
and  no  love  because  men  in  rejecting  or  abusing  her  have 
slain  their  power  ever  again  to  feel  her  presence."'" 
Shakespeare  speaks  for  humanity  when  he  says : 

"I  hate  ingratitude  more  in  a  man 
Than  lying,  vainness,  babblement,  drunkenness, 
Or  any  taint  of  vice  whose  strong  corruption 
Inhabits  our  frail  blood." 

With  ingratitude  to  the  loving  God  who  chose  them,  led  them, 
saved  them,  the  prophet  charged  his  people ;  and  though  he 
seems  to  have  clutched  his  hope  from  despair,  he  challenged 
them  to  repent :  "Sow  for  yourselves  righteousness ;  reap  the 
fruit  of  love ;  break  up  your  fallow  ground ;  since  there  is 
time  to  seek  Jehovah,  to  the  end  that  the  fruit  of  right- 
eousness may  come  to  you"  (lo:  12,  as  translated  by  Harper). 
We  do  not  know  whether  Gomer  ever  became  a  good 
woman.  We  do  know  that  northern  Israel  went  down  in 
real,  if  not  absolute,  ruin.  Hoshea.  the  last  king  of  Israel, 
relying    upon    Egypt    for    help,    refused    to    pay    tribute    to 


lOEx.  Bi.  Hosea,  354. 

226 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS   [XI-6] 

Shalmaneser  IV.  Immediately  the  Assyrian  threw  his  forces 
against  the  city,  but  he  did  not  take  it.  For  three  years  the 
plucky  Hebrews,  in  the  fortress  city  so  well  chosen  in  the 
old  days  by  Omri,  held  out.  Shalmaneser  died,  leaving  to 
his  successor  the  task  of  starving  the  citizens  and  seizing  the 
city.  The  inscription  of  Sargon  II  reads :  "Samaria  I  be- 
sieged, I  captured.  27,290  of  her  inhabitants  I  carried  away. 
.  .  .  My  viceroy  I  placed  over  them,  and  imposed  the  tribute 
of  the  former  king  upon  them."  Northern  Israel  lives  today, 
but  only  in  her  prophets. 

Like  Amos,  Hosea  knows  no  Messiah  (3:5  is  probably 
late),  no  message  of  immortality.  He  is  the  pastor  of  the 
people  rather  than  of  the  individual.  But  his  is  a  wonderful 
new  gospel,  the  gospel  of  the  fathomless,  endless,  redeeming 
love  of  God,  which  desires  nothing  else,  nothing  less,  than 
the  leal-love,  the  goodness  of  men. 

"Does  God  love. 
And  will  ye  hold  that  truth  against  the  world?" 

II.  THE  PROPHETS  OF  THE  SOUTHERN 
KINGDOM 

Eleventh  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

I.  Isaiah,  Jehovah's  Statesman 
a.  Usziah's  Reign. 

We  should  be  glad  to  believe  that  the  words  of  Amos 
and  Hosea  met  with  some  adequate  response  among  the  peo- 
ple to  whom  they  were  originally  addressed.  It  seems  prob- 
able that  the  so-called  Ephraimitic  documents  of  the  Hexa- 
teuch  (p.  7)  took  shape  about  the  time  of  Amos.  The 
beautiful  old  stories  of  Abraham,  the  faith-ful,  and  of  Joseph, 
the  incorruptible,  must  surely  have  made  some  hearts  sus- 
ceptible to  the  preaching  of  the  prophets.  But  the  two  heroes 
spoke  to  a  dying  nation.  We  do  not  know  whether  either  of 
them  lived  to  see  the  ruin  which  they  strove  to  avert.     From 

227 


[XI-6]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE   OF  ISRAEL 

falling  hands  they  threw  the  torch.     One  man  held  it  high, 
and  broke  not  faith  with  them.     That  man  was  Isaiah. 

Our  study  takes  us  down  to  the  Southern  Kingdom,  and 
to  the  reign  of  Uzziah,  or  Azariah.  A  general  and  states- 
man of  great  ability,  Uzziah  seems  to  have  placed  himself 
at  the  head  of  a  great  coalition,  numbering,  all  told,  nineteen 
states.  The  purpose  of  the  confederacy  was  to  resist  the 
enforcement  of  tribute  by  the  Assyrian,  Tiglathpileser  III. 
Rogers"  thinks  that  the  little  states  might  have  succeeded 
but  for  the  cowardice  of  one  of  those  last  kings  of  Israel, 
Alenahem,  who  won  the  scorn  of  Amos  and  Hosea.  Menahem 
yielded  to  the  Assyrian,  and  in  token  of  submission  paid  him 
one  thousand  "talents"  of  silver.  Tiglathpileser  then  pro- 
ceeded to  overwhelm  all  the  other  members  of  the  confeder- 
acy, with  the  exception  of  the  brave  little  kingdom  of  Judah. 
Uzziah  greatly  increased  the  prestige  of  his  country,  and 
hopes  similar  to  those  born  in  northern  Israel  when  his 
contemporary  Jeroboam  II  came  to  the  throne  began  to 
awake  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  the  south.  The  book 
of  Chronicles  makes  a  suggestive  comment  on  the  man's 
career :  "His  name  spread  far  abroad ;  for  he  was  marvellously 
helped,  till  he  was  strong.  But  when  he  was  strong,  his 
heart  was  lifted  up,  so  that  he  did  corruptly,  and  he  tres- 
passed against  Jehovah  his  God"  (II  Chron.  26:15,  16). 
The  particular  trespass  mentioned  by  the  Chronicler  was 
probably  not  regarded  as  trespass  in  the  time  of  Uzziah  him- 
self ;  but  the  record  in  Kings  as  weH  as  that  in  Chronicles 
declares  that  Uzziah  became  a  leper  (II  Kings  15:5). 

b.  God's  Volunteer. 

In  the  year  that  king  Uzziah  died  I  saw  the  Lord 
sitting  upon  a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up;  and  his  train 
filled  the  temple.  Above  him  stood  the  seraphim :  each 
one  had  six  wings ;  with  twain  he  covered  his  face, 
and  with  twain  he  covered  his  feet,  and  with  twain  he 
did  fly.     And  one  cried  unto  another,  and  said.  Holy, 


""History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,"  vol.  II,  p.  119. 
228 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS   [XI-6i 

holy,  holy,  is  Jehovah  of  hosts :  the  whole  earth  is  full 
of  his  glory.  And  the  foundations  of  the  thresholds 
shook  at  the  voice  of  him  that  cried,  and  the  house  v^as 
filled  with  smoke.  Then  said  I,  Woe  is  me !  for  I  am 
undone ;  because  I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips,  and  I 
dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips :  for  mine 
eyes  have  seen  the  King,  Jehovah  of  hosts. 

Then  flew  one  of  the  seraphim  unto  me,  having  a  live 
coal  in'  his  hand,  which  he  had  taken  with  the  tongs 
from  off  the  altar :  and  he  touched  my  mouth  with  it, 
and  said,  Lo,  this  hath  touched  thy  lips ;  and  thine 
iniquity  is  taken  away,  and  thy  sin  forgiven.  And  I 
heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  saying.  Whom  shall  I 
send,  and  who  will  go  for  us?  Then  I  said.  Here  am 
I;  send  me. — Isa.  6:  i-8. 

In  the  year  of  Uzziah's  death,  when  all  the  hopes  of  all  the 
lovers  of  Jerusalem  were  blasted,  the  young  courtier  Isaiah 
"saw  the  Lord."  In  the  temple,  already  grown  ancient,  he 
beheld  in  vision  the  heavenly  "archetype"  of  the  earthly 
temple,  the  familiar  scene  transfigured.  And  there,  above 
his  Lord,  he  saw  the  seraphim,  "all  voice  and  wings,"  and 
heard  them  utter  the  "Thrice  Holy,"  the  trisagion,  which  has 
found  its  way  into  the  liturgy  of  the  Christian  Church.  Over- 
whelmed by  the  majesty  and  holiness  of  Jehovah,  the  man 
cried  out,  "Woe  is  me,  for  I  am  undone;  because  I  am  a 
man  of  unclean  lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of 
unclean  lips :  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King,  Jehovah  of 
hosts."  But  there  came  to  him  stricken,  Peter-like,  by  a  sense 
of  sin  in  the  presence  of  awful  holiness,  the  assurance  of 
divine  purging.  God's  fire  touched  his  lips.  Trembling,  he 
heard  Jehovah's  voice,  "Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who  will  go 
for  us?"  Isaiah  did  not  know  what  God  wanted  him  to  do; 
he  knew  only  that  he  wanted  to  do  what  God  wanted  him 
to  do.  "Here  am  I ;  send  me."  The  words  might  serve  as 
the  motto  of  the  man's  biography.  His  news  might  be  good 
or  bad  news.  His  sole  life-question  was :  "Is  this  God's 
news?"  From  that  time  on,  Jehovah  spake  unto  him  with 
a  strong  hand,  and  instructed  him  that  he  should  not  walk 
in  the  way  of  his  people.     He  would  not  call  that  a  con- 

22Q 


[XI-6]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

spiracy   which   other   people   called   a   conspiracy,    nor   would 
he  fear  the  fears  of  other  people  (8:  12). 

"Now  things  there  are  that,  upon  him  who  sees, 
A  strong  vocation  lay ;  and  strains  there  are 
That  whoso  hears  shall  hear  forevermore." 

c.  "Sin  and  Society." 

Woe  unto  them  that  join  house  to  house,  that  lay 
field  to  field,  till  there  be  no  room,  and  ye  be  made  to 
dwell  alone  in  the  midst  of  the  land !  In  mine  ears 
saith  Jehovah  of  hosts.  Of  a  truth  many  houses  shall  be 
desolate,  even  great  and  fair,  without  inhabitant.  For 
ten  acres  of  vineyard  shall  yield  one  bath,  and  a  homer  • 
of  seed  shall  yield  but  an  ephah.  Woe  unto  them  that 
rise  up  early  in  the  morning,  that  they  may  follow 
strong  drink;  that  tarry  late  into  the  night,  till  wine 
inflame  them !  And  the  harp  and  the  lute,  the  tabret 
and  the  pipe,  and  wine,  are  in  their  feasts ;  but  they  re- 
gard not  the  work  of  Jehovah,  neither  have  they  con- 
sidered the  operation  of  his  hands.  .  .  . 

Woe  unto  them  that  draw  iniquity  with  cords  of 
falsehood,  and  sin  as  it  were  with  a  cart  rope;  that  say, 
Let  him  make  speed,  let  him  hasten  his  work,  that  we 
may  see  it;  and  let  the  counsel  of  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel  draw  nigh  and  come,  that  we  m.ay  know  it!  Woe 
unto  them  that  call  evil  good,  and  good  evil ;  that  put 
darkness  for  light,  and  light  for  darkness ;  that  put 
bitter  for  sweet,  and  sweet  for  bitter !  Woe  unto  them 
that  are  wise  in  their  own  eyes,  and  prudent  in  their 
own  sight !  Woe  unto  them  that  are  mighty  to  drink 
wine,  and  men  of  strength  to  mingle  strong  drink; 
that  justify  the  wicked  for  a  bribe,  and  take  away  the 
righteousness  of  the  righteous  from  him! — Isa.  5:8- 
12,  18-23. 

During  a  large  part  of  Isaiah's  long  career,  the  condition 
of  society  in  Judah  was  not  unlike  that  which  we  observed 
in  northern  Israel  in  the  days  of  Amos  and  Hosea  (p.  20off.). 
We  note  land-grabbing  and  liquor  drinking,  the  same  ar- 
rogance in  sin,  the  same  false  valuations  of  right  and  wrong. 
There  was  great  wealth  over  against  abject  destitution. 
Large  estates  took  the  place  of  small  freeholds.     The  people 

230 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XI-7] 

were  pushed  off  the  land  and  off  the  earth.'"  Superstition, 
magic  from  the  East,  prevailed.  At  the  same  time  there  was 
a  vast  deal  of  temple-treading.  Thoughtless,  snickering 
women  vied  with  bribe-taking  judges  in  wantonness  and 
worship. 

Eleventh  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

d.  Jehovah's  Love-Song  (from  an  early  open-air  sermon). 

Read   Isa.   5   for  characteristic  utterances  of   Isaiah's  earlier 
preaching. 

In  the  regency  and  brief  reign  of  Jotham,  Isaiah  swung 
out  into  his  more  active  ministry.  The  passionate,  powerful 
"love-song"  of  Chapter  5  has  been  called  one  of  his  "early 
open-air  sermons."  Note  the  oratorical  tact,  and  the  bite  of 
it: 

Let  me  sing  for  my  wellbeloved  a  song  of  my  be- 
loved touching  his  vineyard.  My  wellbeloved  had  a 
vineyard  in  a  very  fruitful  hill :  and  he  digged  it,  and 
gathered  out  the  stones  thereof,  and  planted  it  with 
the  choicest  vine,  and  built  a  tower  in  the  midst  of  it, 
and  also  hewed  out  a  winepress  therein :  and  he  looked 
that  it  should  bring  forth  grapes,  and  it  brought  forth 
wild  grapes.  .  ,  ,  For  the  vineyard  of  Jehovah  of  hosts 
is  the  house  of  Israel,  and  the  men  of  Judah  his  pleas- 
ant plant:  and  he  looked  for  justice,  but,  behold,  op- 
pression ;  for  righteousness,  but,  behold,  a  cry. — Isa. 
5:1,2,7" 

e.  Jehovah's  Statesman  and  Judah' s  Politician  (Isaiah  and 
Ahaz). 

Read  Isa.  7,  an  important  chapter  in  the  story  of  heroism  and 
of  faith. 

Then  said  Jehovah  unto  Isaiah,  Go  forth  now  to 
meet  Ahaz,  thou,  and  Shear-jashub  thy  son,  at  the  end 
of  the  conduit  of  the  upper  pool,  in  the  highway  of  the 


12  "Reflect  seriously  on  the  possible  consequences  of  keeping  in  the  hearts 
of  your  community  a  bank  of  discontent,  every  hour  accumulating,  upon 
which  every  company  of  seditious  men  may  draw  at  pleasure"  (Burke,  quoted 
by  Morley). 

"For  beautiful  translation  see  His.  Bi.  Ill,  131. 

231 


[XI-7]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

fuller's  field ;  and  sa}-  unto  him.  Take  heed,  and  be 
quiet;  fear  not,  neither  let  thy  heart  be  faint,  because 
of  these  two  tails  of  smoking  firebrands,  for  the  fierce 
anger  of  Rezin  and  Syria,  and  of  the  son  of  Remaliah. 
Because  Syria,  Ephraim,  and  the  son  of  Remaliah, 
have  purposed  evil  against  thee,  saying.  Let  us  go  up 
against  Judah,  and  vex  it,  and  let  us  make  a  breach 
therein  for  us,  and  set  up  a  king  in  the  midst  of  it, 
even  the  son  of  Tabeel ;  thus  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah, 
It  shall  not  stand,  neither  shall  it  come  to  pass.  For 
the  head  of  Syria  is  Damascus,  and  the  head  of 
Damascus  is  Rezin ;  and  within  threescore  and  five 
years  shall  Ephraim  be  broken  in  pieces,  so  that  it  shall 
not  be  a  people:  and  the  head  of  Ephraim  is  Samaria, 
and  the  head  of  Samaria  is  Remaliah's  son.  If  ye  will 
not  believe,  surely  ye  shall  not  be  established. — Isa. 
7 :  3-9. 

Jotham  ruled  "only  two  pitiful  years,  and  then  left  a 
weakened  kingdom  to  Ahaz,"  an  inexperienced  man,  possibly 
not  twenty-one  years  of  age. 

As  men  count  events,  the  Syro-Ephraimitic  invasion  of 
734  B.  C.  might  not  be  considered  great.  It  presented, 
however,  the  first  of  the  two  crises  which  called  forth  Isaiah's 
master  efforts,  and  must  therefore  be  studied  with  some  care. 
Tiglathpileser  III  had  a  definite  and  terrible  policy,  to  bring 
under  tribute,  or  to  destroy,  all  of  western  Asia.  With  the 
customary  folly  and  futility  of  the  kings  of  northern  Israel, 
Pekah,  an  assassin,  joined  forces  with  the  rulers  of  Syria 
against  Judah.  Both  kingdoms  had  petty  spites  to  vent  upon 
the  kingdom  of  the  south.  The  plan  was  to  dethrone  the 
weakling  Ahaz,  and  to  put  upon  the  throne  their  own  nominee, 
the  son  of  Tabeel,  possibly  a  Syrian  courtier,  who  would  do 
their  will  and  foster  their  anti-Assyrian  interests.  And  it  is 
written  of  Ahaz,  that  "his  heart  trembled,  and  the  heart  of 
his  people,  as  the  trees  of  the  forest  tremble  with  the  wind" 
(Isa.  7:2).  But  like  all  cowards,  he  dreaded  more  a  small 
and  immediate  danger  than  a  great  danger  more  remote. 

So  Ahaz  sent  messengers  to  Tiglath-pileser  king  of 
Assyria,  saying,  I  am  thy  servant  and  thy  son:  come 

232 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND' NEW  PROPHETS   [XI-7] 

up,  and  save  me  out  of  the  hand  of  the  king  of  Syria, 
and  out  of  the  hand  of  the  king  of  Israel,  who  rise 
up  against  me.  And  Ahaz  took  the  silver  and  gold 
that  was  found  in  the  house  of  Jehovah,  and  in  the 
treasures  of  the  king's  house,  and  sent  it  for  a  present 
to  the  king  of  Assyria.  And  the  king  of  Assyria 
hearkened  unto  him. — II  Kings  16 :  7-9a. 

That  is,  in  fear  of  his  northern  neighbors,  Ahaz  hai  deter- 
mined to  call  to  his  aid  Assyria  itself — another  of  those  fate- 
ful decisions  of  little  men  in  great  authority.  As  he  was  in- 
specting a  conduit  of  "the  upper  pool,"  he  was  met  by  Isaiah, 
accompanied  by  his  son.  This  son  bore  the  significant  name, 
"Shear-jashub"  (A  remnant  shall  return — from  exile?  No — 
to  God;  or,  possibly,  A  remnant  shall  abide).  The  little 
politician  was  met  by  the  statesman.  Isaiah  spoke  first  a  word 
of  peace :  "Don't  be  anxious ;  the  northern  kings  whom  you 
fear  are  but  tails  of  burned  out  fire-brands.  Won't  you  trust 
God?  //  ye  will  not  believe,  ye  shall  not  he  established."^*' 
Luther  translates  the  words,  "Glaiihet  Ihr  nicht,  so  bleibet 
Ihr  nicht."  Another  suggests  the  Scotch  idiom,  "If  ye  will 
not  have  faith,  ye  shall  not  have  staith."  Still  another  sug- 
gests, "No  confiding,  no  abiding."  All  scholars  agree  that 
we  have  here  one  of  the  great  incidents  of  religious  history. 
One  puts  it  thus :  "Never  before  probably  had  the  distinc- 
tively religious  principle  of  faith  been  so  plainly  exhibited 
as  the  touchstone  of  character  and  destiny."  Perhaps  the 
finest  modern  illustration  of  the  contrast  between  the  Ahaz 
temper  and  the  Isaiah  temper  is  given  us  in  the  story  of 
Douglas,  "the  little  giant,"  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  "Douglas 
'don't  care,'  "  said  Lincoln,  "whether  slavery  is  voted  up  or 
down,  but  God  cares,  and  I  care,  and  with  God's  help  I  shall 
not  fail." 

"Swiftly  the  politic  goes;  is  it  dark?  he  borrows  a  lantern; 
Slowly  the  statesman  and  sure,  guiding  his  feet  by  the  stars." 

The  life  of  policy  leads  to  fear  and  failure.  The  life  of  faith 
leads  to  courage  and  triumph. 

1*  In  the  original  there  is  a  play  on  words,  not  indicated  in  the  translation. 

2Z3 


[XII-i]    RELIGIOUS  EXP'ERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Twelfth  Week,  First  Day. 

Read   Isa.  8   for   complete   narrative   of   epochal   events   dis- 
cussed in  this  Study. 

Ahaz  was  unconvinced,  or,  more  probably,  he  had  already 
got  his  head  into  the  Assyrian  noose. 

Isaiaih  spoke  again,  "Won't  you  believe  my  word  ?  Ask  me 
any  sort  of  sign."  Ahaz  replied,  "Oh,  no,  I  won't  ask  for 
a  sign;  I  won't  tempt  God."  In  hot  indignation,  the  prophet 
turned  upon  him:  "Won't  you  ask  for  a  sign?  I  will  give 
you  a  sign  which  you  will  not  like.  A  maiden*^  shall  con- 
ceive and  bear  a  son,  and  shall  call  his  name  Immanuel,  in 
token  of  the  woman's  gratitude  for  her  people's  deliverance 
from  the  invaders  of  the  north.  Before  the  child  shall  know 
to  refuse  the  evil  and  choose  the  good,  Israel  and  Syria, 
before  whose  kings  you  cower,  will  be  deserted ;  but  then 
Jehovah  will  bring  upon  you  and  your  father's  house  days 
such  as  have  not  been  since  the  terrible  disruption  of  Israel 
(937  B.  C.) — even  the  king  of  Assyria"  (see  7:  10-17). 

In  a  word  Isaiah  predicts : 

(i)  The  early  complete  collapse  and  ruin  of  Syria  and 
Israel. 

(2)  The  devastation  of  Judah  at  the  hand  of  her  supposed 
helper  Assyria;  the  sign  of  this  experience  to  be  a  child 
whose  name  might  well  speak  of  the  ushering  in  of  the 
golden  age,  but  whose  fate  would  be  pain  and  poverty'" 
because  of  the  abominable  policy  of  Ahaz. 

Isaiah  could  do  nothing  with  the  king.  One  is  reminded 
of  the  words  of  William  Watson : 

"The  knights  rode  up  with  gifts  for  the  king, 
And  one  was  a  jeweled  sword, 
And  one  was  a  suit  of  golden  mail, 
And  one  was  a  golden  Word. 


16  Possibly  any  marriageable  woman,  possibly  the  wife  of  Ahaz. 
16  Uncertainty  of  text  makes  meaning  uncertain. 

234 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XII-2]. 

He  buckled  the  shining  armor  on, 

And  he  girt  the  sword  at  his  side; 

But  he  flung  at  his  feet  the  golden  Word, 

And  trampled  it  in  his  pride. 

The  armor  is  pierced  with  many  spears, 
And  the  sword  is  breaking  hi  twain ; 
But  the  Word  has  risen  in  storm  and  fire 
To  vanquish  and  to  reign." 

Isaiah  turned  from  the  king  to  the  people.  Upon  a  great 
tablet  he  wrote:  "Speeds  Booty,  Hastes  Spoil."  He  gave  to 
his  new-born  son  the  name,  "Speeds  Booty,  Hastes  Spoil." 
"For  before  the  child  shall  have  knowledge  to  cry  My  father, 
and  My  mother,  the  riches  of  Damascus  [of  Syria]  and  the 
spoil  of  Samaria  [of  northern  Israel]  shall  be  carried  away 
before  the  king  of  Assyria"  (8:4). 

In  the  case  of  Damascus,  the  prediction  was  soon  fulfilled. 
"The  whole  country  was  desolated,  Tiglathpileser  boasting 
that  he  had  destroyed  cities  whose  inhabitants,  numbering 
thousands,  were  carried  away  with  all  their  possessions  to 
Assyria.  At  last,  about  the  end  of  732,  Damascus  fell  into 
his  hands."^^ 

The  ruin  of  Samaria,  as  we  have  seen  (p.  227),  was  to  be 
postponed  for  a  decade.  But  the  people  of  Jerusalem,  in 
their  little  mountain  fortress,  were  not  content  with  the  safe, 
sure,  quiet  waters  of  Shiloah,  the  divine  resources  of  their 
own;  therefore  the  great  "Human  Euphrates"  would  sweep 
over  the  land. 

Twelfjth  Week,  Second  Day. 

f.  "The  First  Appearance  of  the  Church" 

Bind  thou  up  the  testimony,  seal  the  law  among  my 
disciples.  And  I  will  wait  for  Jehovah,  that  hideth 
his  face  from  the  house  of  Jacob,  and  I  will  look  for 
him.  Behold,  I  and  the  children  whom  Jehovah 'hath 
given  me  are  for  signs  and  for  wonders  in  Israel  from 
Jehovah  of  hosts,  who  dwelleth  in  mount  Zion. — Isa. 
8:16-18. 


17  Rogers,  "Cuneiform  Parallels,"  p.  312. 
23.S 


[XII-2]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Unable  to  influence  king  or  people,  what  could  the  prophet 
do?  Surely  he  had  come  to  the  end  of  his  responsibility. 
To  him  was  left  loyalty  to  his  ideals  and  to  his  God;  to  him 
was  left  fellowship  with  the  few  men  who  with  him  trusted 
Jehovah  utterly;  to  him  was  left  prayer:  "I  will  wait  for 
Jehovah,  that  hideth  his  face  from  the  house  of  Jacob,  and 
I  will  look  for  him." 

In  {his  little  group  of  the  loyal,  the  loving,  and  the  prayer- 
ful, we  have  "the  first  appearance  in  history  of  the  Church, 
the  first  appearance  in  history  of  a  religious  society  apart  from 
the  forms  of  domestic  and  of  national  life." 

From  this  time  on,  Isaiah's  supreme  task  was  to  increase 
within  Jerusalem  the  number  of  disciples  of  Jehovah,  to  in- 
crease the  Remnant  which,  saved  from  the  wreck  of  society, 
might  yet  save  Jehovah's  religion  to  the  world.  The  im- 
portance o'f  the  task  we  realize  in  a  measure,  when  we  remem- 
ber that,  with  the  ruin  of  the  Northern  Kingdom  in  722  B.  C, 
Jerusalem  and  her  suburbs  constituted  practically  the  only 
region  in  the  world  in  which  there  was  a  vital  movement 
toward  ethical  monotheism. 

How  hopeless  Isaiah's  task  must  have  seemed  at  times  is 
suggested  by  the  idiotic  passion  of  Ahaz  for  foreign  customs 
and   foreign   fashions   in   religion. 

And  king  Ahaz  went  to  Damascus  to  meet  Tiglath- 
pileser  king  of  Assyria,  and  saw  the  altar  that  was  at 
Damascus;  and  king  Ahaz  sent  to  Urijah  the  priest 
the  fashion  of  the  altar,  and  the  pattern  of  it,  according 
to  all  the  workmanship  thereof.  And  Urijah  the  priest 
built  an  altar :  according  to  all  that  king  Ahaz  had 
sent  from  Damascus,  so  did  Urijah  the  priest  make  it 
against  the  coming  of  king  Ahaz  from  Damascus.  And 
when  the  king  was  come  from  Damascus,  the  king  saw 
the  altar :  and  the  king  drew  near  unto  the  altar,  and 
offered  thereon. — II  Kings  16:10-12. 

The  king,  on  a  visit  to  his  Assyrian  lord  and  master  then  in 
Damascus,  chanced  to  see  an  altar  which  he  greatly  admired; 
and  he  must  send  to  his  priestling  the  design  and  workman- 
ship of  the  altar,  so  that  he  might  have  one  "just  like  it," 

236 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XII-2] 

in  the  temple  of  Jehovah — Isaiah's  God,  whose  train  filled 
the  temple,  and  whose  glory  filled  the  whole  earth.  "Cujus 
regio,  ejus  religio."  Among  Semitic  people  the  man  who 
held  royal  power  largely  controlled  the  religious  life  of  the 
people.  A  king  who  "made  his  son  to  pass  through  the  fire," 
who  worshiped  Jehovah  according  to  the  infamous  rites  of 
the  Canaanites,  would  be  followed  by  many  an  eager  hench- 
man, and  by  the  great  mass  of  the  populace  as  well. 

But  wherever  in  "Christendom"  today  a  religious  society 
gathers  its  group  of  loyal,  loving,  prayerful  men,  that  society 
reaches  back  historically  to  the  little  group  of  the  lovers  of 
Jehovah,  who  gathered  about  the  prophet,  despised  and  re- 
jected by  king  and  populace. 

A  writer  remarks :  "It  is  safe  to  say  that  every  man  in 
western  Europe  and  America  is  leading  a  different  life  today 
from  what  he  would  have  led,  and  is  another  person  alto- 
gether from  what  he  would  have  been,  had  Martin  Luther 
not  lived."  Had  Isaiah  slipped  away  into  the  crowd,  hiding 
his  disappointment  and  sorrow  in  his  heart,  you  would  be 
living  today  a  different  life  in  a  different  world. 

g.  Programs  of  Policy  and  of  Faith. 

Read  Isa.  28:  1-19  and  compare  with  the  substance  and  spirit 
of  Amos  and  Hosea  in  their  prophecies  against  northern 
Israel. 

In  Isa.  28  we  hear  the  prophet  pronouncing  doom  upon  the 
land  of  Hosea's  love.  Isaiah  never  refers  to  the  prophets 
of  the  Northern  Kingdom ;  but  it  may  well  be  that  they  knew 
each  other,  and  together  faced  the  last  tragedy  of  Israel 
with  a  faith  which  assuaged  their  grief.  • 

Woe  to  them  that  go  down  to  Egypt  for  help,  and 
rely  on  horses,  and  trust  in  chariots  because  they  are 
many,  and  in  horsemen  because  they  are  very  strong, 
but  they  look  not  unto  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  neither 
seek  Jehovah !  Yet  he  also  is  wise,  and  will  bring 
evil,  and  will  not  call  back  his  words,  but  will  arise 
against  the  house  of   the  evil-doers,   and   against  the 

2Z7 


[XII-2J    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

help  of  them  that  work  iniquity.  Now  the  Egyptians 
are  men,  and  not  God ;  and  their  horses  flesh,  and  not 
spirit :  and  when  Jehovah  shall  stretch  out  his  hand, 
both  he  that  helpeth  shall  stumble,  and  he  that  is  helped 
shall  fall,  and  they  all  shall  be  consumed  together. — 
Isa.  31 :  1-3. 

As  statesman,  Isaiah  had  done  his  best  to  prevent  Judah 
from  entering  upon  entangling  alliances.  But  now  that 
Assyria  had  become  resistless  overlord,  Isaiah  tried  to  hold 
Ahaz  and  his  successor,  Hezekiah,  to  their  allegiance,  know- 
ing that  only  by  faithful  vassalage  could  Judah  survive.  In 
chapter  after  chapter — for  example,  20,  28 :  I4ff.,  30,  31 — we 
see  how  the  prophet  strove  by  precept  upon  precept,  line  upon 
line,  to  induce  his  people  to  stop  their  everlasting  flirtation 
with  Egypt — Rahab,  that  sitteth  still.  Now  he  would  use 
grim  satire,  now  he  would  beg  the  peanut  politicians  of  Jeru- 
salem who  thought  themselves  so  shrewd  to  remember  that 
Jehovah  also  is  wise,  that  they  need  not  expect  to  fool  God. 
They  might  think  that  they  could  make  a  covenant  with  death 
and  a  league  with  hell,  and  go  unpunished ;  but  "He  also  is 
wise." 

Not  by  breaking  covenant  with  Assyria,  not  by  carrying 
presents  on  bunches  of  camels  to  Egypt,  but  by  refusing  en- 
tangling alliances  and  resting  in  Jehovah,  would  Jerusalem 
win  safety.  "For  thus  said  the  Lord  Jehovah,  the  Holy 
One  of  Israel,  In  returning  and  rest  shall  ye  be  saved ;  in 
quietness  and  in  confidence  shall  be  your  strength"  (30:  15). 
The  advice  was  not  that  of  a  mere  mystic,  nor  that  of  a  peace- 
at-any-price  quietist.  It  was  the  advice  of  a  statesman,  who 
knew  that  Judah's  only  hope  lay  in  her  rejection  of  futile 
conspiracies,  in  her  acceptance  of  Assyria's  rule,  and  in  her 
quiet  confidence  in  Jehovah,  who  rules  and  overrules. 

Hezekiah,  the  son  of  Ahaz,  was  a  much  better,  much 
stronger  man  than  his  father.  He  did  not  copy  the  folly  of 
Ahaz  in  aping  foreign  customs  and  foreign  kings.  But, 
though  a  friend  of  Isaiah,  he  could  not  escape  the  spell  of 
the  pro-Egyptian  party.     In  713-71 1,  Hezekiah  joined  a  con- 

238 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XII-3] 

federacy  of  small  states,  which,  relying  upon  assistance  from 
Egypt,  thought  to  make  effective  resistance  to  Sargon  of 
Assyria/' 

Twelfth  Week,  Third  Day, 

In  the  year  that  Tartan  came  unto  Ashdod,  when 
Sargon  the  king  of  Assyria  sent  him,  and  he  fought 
against  Ashdod  and  took  it;  at  that  time  Jehovah  spake 
by  Isaiah  the  son  of  Amoz,  saying,  Go,  and  loose  the 
sackcloth  from  off  thy  loins,  and  put  thy  shoe  from  off 
thy  foot.  And  he  did  so,  walking  naked  and  barefoot. 
And  Jehovah  said,  Like  as  my  servant  Isaiah  hath 
walked  naked  and  barefoot  three  years  for  a  sign  and 
a  wonder  concerning  Egypt  and  concerning  Ethiopia ; 
so  shall  the  king  of  Assyria  lead  away  the  captives  of 
Egypt,  and  the  exiles  of  Ethiopia,  young  and  old,  naked 
and  barefoot,  and  with  buttocks  uncovered,  to  the 
shame  of  Egypt.  And  they  shall  be  dismayed  and  con- 
founded, because  of  Ethiopia  their  expectation,  and  of 
Egypt  their  glory.  And  the  inhabitant  of  this  coast- 
land  shall  say  in  that  day.  Behold,  such  is  our  ex- 
pectation, whither  we  fled  for  help  to  be  delivered  from 
the  king  of  Assyria:  and  we,  how  shall  we  escape? 
— Isa.  20:  1-6. 

Sargon  swept  into  Ashdod  of  Philistia,  and  stamped  out 
the  rebellion,  but  he  did  not  destroy  the  silly  hopes  of  the 
confederates.  It  was  about  this  time  that  Isaiah  preached 
a  sensational  sermon,  "three  years  long,"  walking  up  and 
down  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  as  a  captive  of  Assyria,  un- 
froclied  and  barefoot.     But  he  preached  to  deaf  ears. 

No  sooner  wa^  Sargon's  son  Sennacherib  upon  the  Assyrian 
throne  than  an  elaborate  combination  of  states  was  formed 
against  him.  The  ''patriotic"  party  in  Judah  gained  the 
ascendancy.  "The  country  was  ready  for  a  daring  stroke 
against  Assyria.  Hezekiah  became  the  moving  spirit  of  a 
rebellion  which  swept  over  all  the  Syrian  states."  Isaiah 
was  probably  the  most  unpopular  man  in  Judah,  the  Great 
Objector. 


1"  Rogers,  "History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,"  vol.  II,  p.  169. 
239 


[XlI-3]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

In  701  B.  C.  occurred  the  second  crisis,  about  which  gather 
some  of  the  most  important  prophecies  of  Isaiah.  The  event 
whose  coming  he  had  foreseen  through  the  years  arrived,  to 
find  the  people  utterly  unprepared.  Sennacherib  swooped 
down  upon  Judah,  ruined  the  land,  and  then  besieged  Jeru- 
salem itself,  Jehovah's  city.  In  Isaiah  22  some  happy  inci- 
dent of  the  campaign,  or  the  withdrawal  of  Sennacherib's 
forces  because  of  the  bestowal  on  them  of  enormous  tribute, 
filled  the  people's  hearts  with  the  mirth  of  fools.  The  house- 
tops were  crowded  with  sightseers.  In  1914,  when  the  Turks 
proceeded  through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  with  the  flag 
which  proclaimed  a  Holy  War  against  the  Allies,  the  pathetic 
procession  was  watched  by  similar  throngs  gathered  on  the 
ancient  housetops  of  the  city. 

"O  thou  that  art  full  of  shoutings,  a  tumultuous  city,  a 
joyous  town"  (22:2).  Blind  to  the  real  shame  and  the 
real  need  of  the  hour,  the  j)eople  proceeded  to  try  to  comfort 
the  prophet,  bidding  him  to  cheer  up.  "Look  away  from  me, 
I  will  weep  bitterly ;  labor  not  to  comfort  me  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  daughter  of  my  people"  (22:4). 

From  this  point  on,  the  history  is  very  hard  to  reconstruct. 
The  incident  which  we  have  just  described  accords  with  the 
record  in  II  Kings,  which  reads : 

Now  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  king  Hezekiah  did 
Sennacherib  king  of  Assyria  come  up  against  all  the 
fortified  cities  of  Judah,  and  took  them.  And  Hezekiah 
king  of  Judah  sent  to  the  king  of  Assyria  to  Lachish, 
saying,  I  have  offended ;  return  from  me :  that  which 
thou  puttest  on  me  will  I  bear.  And  the  king  of  Assyria 
appointed  unto  Hezekiah  king  of  Judah  three  hundred 
talents  of  silver  and  thirty  talents  of  gold.  And  Heze- 
kiah gave  him  all  the  silver  that  was  found  in  the  house 
of  Jehovah,  and  in  the  treasures  of  the  king's  house. 
At  that  time  did  Hezekiah  cut  off  the  gold  from  the 
doors  of  the  temple  of  Jehovah,  and  from  the  pillars 
which  Hezekiah  king  of  Judah  had  overlaid,  and  gave 
it  to  the  king  of  Assyria. — II  Kings  18:  13-16. 

And  this  account  completely  accords  again  with  that  given 

240 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XII-4] 

us  in  the  so-called  Taylor  Cylinder,  the  Assyrian  inscription, 
in  which  Sennacherib  declares : 

"The  governors,  princes,  and  people  of  Ekron,  who  had 
cast  into  iron  fetters  Padi,  their  king  (who  had  been  faith- 
ful to  the  commands  and  compact  of  Assyria),  and  had  given 
him  over  to  Hezekiah  of  Judah,  in  a  hostile  manner,  their 
hearts  feared.  They  summoned  the  kings  of  Egypt,  the  bow- 
men, chariots,  horses  of  the  king  of  Melukhkha,  forces  with- 
out number,  and  they  came  to  their  help.  .  ,  .  With  the  help 
of  Ashur,  my  lord,  I  fought  with  them  and  accomplished 
their  defeat.  ...  I  drew  near  to  Amkaruna  (Ekron)  ;  the 
governors  and  princes  who  had  committed  sin  I  slew,  and 
hung  their  bodies  on  poles  around  the  city,  .  .  .  Padi,  their 
king,  I  brought  out  of  Jerusalem,  and  set  him  on  the  throne 
of  dominion  over  them,  and  the  tribute  of  my  dominion  I 
laid  upon  him.  And  of  Hezekiah,  the  Judaean,  who  had  not 
submitted  to  my  yoke,  forty-six  strong  cities,  with  walls,  the 
smaller  cities  which  were  around  them,  without  number,  by 
the  battering  of  rams  and  the  assault  of  engines,  the  attack 
of  foot-soldiers,  mines,  breaches,  and  axes,  I  besieged  and  cap- 
tured them.  .  .  .  [Hezekiah]  himself  I  shut  up  like  a  caged 
bird  within  Jerusalem  his  royal  city.  ...  As  for  Hezekiah, 
the  fear  of  the  majesty  of  my  dominion  overwhelmed  him. 
.  .  .  With  thirty  talents  of  gold,  eight  hundred  talents  of 
silver,  precious  stones,  stibium,  uknu-stones,  couches  of  ivory, 
seats  of  ivory,  elephant-hide,  ivory,  ushu  and  ukarinnu  wood, 
diverse  objects,  a  heavy  treasure,  and  his  daughters,  the 
women  of  his  palace,  male  musicians,  female  musicians  he 
despatched  after  me  to  Nineveh,  my  capital  city.  He  sent 
his  ambassador  to  give  tribute  and  make  submission.'"® 

Twelfth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

The  Assyrians  could  lie  very  cheerfully,  when  need  arose; 
but  their  annals  join  with  the  Scripture  narrative  in  stating 
that  the  Assyrians  were  tremendously  successful  in  their 
campaign  against  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  and  that  they  were 
bought  off  only  at  the  price  of  Hezekiah's  humiliating  sub- 
mission. This  submission  involved  not  alone  enormous 
tribute,  which  stripped  the  very  gold  from  the  temple  doors, 
but  apparently  the  deportation  of  the  king's  household. 

18  Rogers,  "Cuneiform  Parallels,"  p.  342ff. 
241 


[XII-4]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Where  then  shall  we  find  place  for  the  subsequent  narra- 
tives (II  Kings  18:17-19,  cf.  Isa.  36,  37),  which  speak  of 
parle3^s  between  Sennacherib's  representative  and  the  leading 
men  of  Jerusalem;  which  speak  of  Isaiah's  promise  of  com- 
plete vindication  and  victory  for  the  virgin  daughter  of 
Zion? 

Some  scholars  would  tell  us  that  all  the  anti-Assyrian 
prophecies  in  Isaiah  belong  to  a  later  age.  Others  believe 
that,  after  Sennacherib  had  retired  from  Jerusalem,  he  con- 
cluded that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  leave  behind  him  so 
strong  a  fortress ;  that  therefore  he  broke  his  covenant,  and 
sought  to  take  the  city  by  diplomacy  rather  than  by  siege,  by 
a  political  rather  than  a  military  offensive.  Those  who  hold 
this  view  assume  that  Isaiah's  indignation  flamed  forth  be- 
cause Assyria  chose  to  regard  a  treaty  as  "a  scrap  of  paper," 
that  he  now  promised  triumph  to  his  city,  God's  city.  This 
construction  of  the  history  does  not  seem  to  leave  room  for 
the  reformation  in  morals  and  religion  which  Isaiah  ever 
insisted  must  precede  any  civic  salvation. 

The  following  view  is  tenable,  though  not  certainly  ac- 
curate : 

In  701  B.  C,  Sennacherib  was  assuredly  successful,  though 
he  did  not  indeed  enter  Jerusalem.  The  people  must  have 
said :  "Isaiah  was  right.  We  did  not  listen  to  him,  but  he 
was  right."  With  chastened  minds,  under  the  leadership  of 
their  humiliated  and  humbled  king,  they  entered  upon  real 
and  extensive  reforms,  reforms  which  were  remembered  for 
a  hundred  years  (See  Jer.  26:  19).  Then  considerably  later, 
between  690  and  682,  Sennacherib  entered  upon  another  west- 
ern campaign.  Our  theory  assumes  that  in  this  campaign 
Sennacherib  again  threatened  Jerusalem ;  that  at  this  time, 
relying  upon  the  thorough  reformation  of  his  people,  Isaiah 
became  a  prophet  of  civic  hope. 

h.  The  Vindication  of  Faith. 

Read  aloud   Isa.   36  and   :^7,   for   a  dramatic   picture  of  the 

242 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XII-4] 

conflict  of  the  ages,  between  the  worldling  and  the  soldiers 
of  faith. 

Whatever  may  be  the  final  solution  of  the  problem  by  the 
scholars,  whatever  date  we  may  assume  for  the  interview 
between  the  Rabshakeh  and  the  Hebrews  (Isa.  36),  we  may 
not  lose  its  message.  In  words  so  fair  and  cunning  that  they 
would  seem  about  to  open  the  city  gates  as  by  a  huge  magnet, 
the  Assyrian  diplomat  makes  his  appeal  in  the  Hebrew  tongue 
to  the  soldiers  on  the  wall.  The  threats,  the  bullying,  the 
promises  are  all  after  the  persistent  fashion  of  the  worldling 
as  he  deals  with  the  soldiers  of  faith.  The  record  goes  on 
to  the  wondrous  vindication  of  faith. 

And  the  angel  of  Jehovah  went  forth,  and  smote  in 
the  camp  of  the  Assyrians  a  hundred  and  fourscore 
and  five  thousand ;  and  when  men  arose  early  in  the 
morning,  behold,  these  were  all  dead  bodies.  So  Sen- 
nacherib king  of  Assyria  departed,  and  went  and  re- 
turned, and  dwelt  at  Nineveh. — Isa.  ^7 :  36,  2)7- 

Herodotus  tells  us  that  Sethos,  an  Egyptian  king,  had  set 
his  warrior  class  against  him.  "Afterwards  therefore  when 
Sennacherib  king  of  the  Arabians  and  Assyrians  marched  his 
vast  army  into  Egypt,  the  warriors  one  and  all  refused  to 
come  to  his  aid."  But  an  encouraging  dream  sent  to  Sethos 
by  his  god  impelled  him  to  gather  together  as  many  "traders, 
artisans,  and  market-people"  as  he  could.  With  these  "he 
marched  to  Pelusium,  where  the  passes  are  by  which  the 
country  is  entered,  and  there  pitched  his  camp.  As  the  two 
armies  lay  opposite  one  another  there  came  in  the  night  a 
multitude  of  field  mice,  which  devoured  all  the  quivers  and 
bowstrings  of  the  enemy  and  ate  the  thongs  by  which  they 
managed  their  shields.  Next  morning  they  commenced  their 
flight,  and  great  multitudes  fell,  as  they  had  no  arms  with 
which  to  defend  themselves."  Herodotus  goes  on  to  tell 
of  a  statue  of  Sethos,  holding  a  mouse  in  his  hand.*" 

20  Abbreviated  from  account  by  Rogers.  "Cuneiform  Parallels,"  who  gives 
the  words  of  Herodotus,  p.  346fiE. 

243 


[XII-5]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Pelusium  lies  among  pestilential  marshes.  In  the  Orient, 
the  mouse  is  frequently  the  very  symbol  of  the  plague.  In 
the  days  of  Samuel,  the  plague-stricken  Philistines  sent  back 
to  Israel  the  ark  of  Jehovah,  and  images  of  their  tumors, 
and  images  of  mice  (I  Sam.  6).  We  know  that  the  plague 
is  today  carried  by  rats  and  mice.  A  missionary  in  Arabia 
declares  that  he  is  glad  to  see  healthy  rats  abroad,  for  when 
the  rats  begin  to  hide  away,  he  knows  that  the  plague  is  at 
hand.  The  Indian  Government  prefers  to  ehminate  the  rats, 
and  provides  rat-traps  in  abundance  whenever  the  plague  is 
feared.  The  curious  tradition,  then,  of  Herodotus  may  be 
a  distorted  reminiscence  of  the  fact  that  Sennacherib's  vast 
army  was  smitten  by  the  plague,  which  may  well  have  seemed 
to  the  Hebrews  Jehovah's  death  angel  to  slay  the  Assyrian 
and  to  save  his  city. 

Had  the  city  fallen  in  Isaiah's  time,  it  is  hard  to  see  how 
the  faith  for  which  Isaiah  stood  could  have  survived.  The 
city  was  to  live  on  for  more  than  a  century,  and  when  it 
was  destroyed  and  the  people  sent  into  exile,  the  religion 
of  Jehovah  found  refuge  in  the  hearts  of  some  of  the 
Remnant  left  among  the  ruins,  and  was,  as  well,  able  to  bear 
transportation,  exile,  and  captivity. 

Twelfth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

i.  Isaiah's  Central  Message. 
Read  Isa.  i. 

No  discussion  of  Isaiah,  however  brief,  could  omit  the 
study  of  the  first  chapter  of  the  book,  which  gives  us  "per- 
haps better  than  any  other  single  chapter  o'f  the  Old  Testa- 
ment the  substance  of  prophetic  doctrine,  and  a  very  vivid 
illustration  of  the  prophetic  spirit  and  temper."  We  seem 
to  listen  to  Hosea,  as  the  prophet  in  his  great  arraignment 
calls  heaven  and  earth  to  witness  the  stupidity  and  the  in- 
gratitude of  Jerusalem. 

Hear,  O  heavens,  and  give  ear,  O  earth ;  for  Jehovah 
hath   spoken :    I   have   nourished   and   brought   up   chil- 

244 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XII-5] 

dren,  and  they  have  rebelled  against  me.  The  ox 
knoweth  his  owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib;  but 
Israel  doth  not  know,  my  people  doth  not  consider. 
— Isa.  1:2,  3. 

Or  again  we  seem  to  hear  Amos,  as  Isaiah  calls  his  fellow- 
citizens  rulers  of  Sodom,  people  of  Gomorrah,  and  denounces 
them  for  substituting  ritual  for  righteousness,  and  for  marry- 
ing sin  with  the  solemn  meeting. 

What  unto  me  is  the  multitude  of  your  sacrifices? 
saith  Jehovah :  I  have  had  enough  of  the  burnt-offerings 
of  rams,  and  the  fat  of  fed  beasts;  and  I  delight  not 
in  the  blood  of  bullocks,  or  of  lambs,  or  of  he-goats. 
When  ye  come  to  appear  before  me,  who  hath  re- 
quired this  at  your  hand,  to  trample  my  courts?  Bring 
no  more  vain  oblations ;  incense  is  an  abomination  unto 
me ;  new  moon  and  sabbath,  the  calling  of  assemblies, — 
I  cannot  away  with  iniquity  and  the  solemn  meeting. 
Your  new  moons  and  your  appointed  feasts  my  soul 
hateth ;  they  are  a  trouble  unto  me ;  I  am  weary  of 
bearing  them.  And  when  ye  spread  forth  your  hands, 
I  will  hide  mine  eyes  from  you ;  yea,  when  ye  make 
many  prayers,  I  will  not  hear-  your  hands  are  full  of 
blood.  Wash  you,  make  you  clean ;  put  away  the  evil 
of  your  doings  from  before  mine  eyes ;  cease  to  do 
evil;  learn  to  do  well;  seek  justice,  relieve  the  op- 
pressed, judge  the  fatherless,  plead  for  the  widow. — 
Isa.  1 :  11-17. 

Isaiah  here  absolutely  repudiates  that  which  in  the  popular 
mind  constituted  the  very  essence  of  religion,  and  insists  on 
justice,  goodness,  loyalty  to  the  character  of  Jehovah,  "the 
Holy  One  of  Israel,"  whose  holiness  is  "through  righteous- 
ness," and  whose  glory  fills  the  earth. 

In  this  message  we  catch  certain  gleams  of  hope.  For 
northern  Israel  Isaiah  seems  never  to  have  cherished  any 
hope  whatever.  Her  ruin  was  to  him  no  surprise.  But,  while 
this  first  chapter  proclaims  no  Messiah,  no  hope  of  im- 
mortality, it  does  offer  a  chance  to  the  penitent,  and  does 
look  forward  to  the  day  when  Jehovah  shall  smelt  out  the 
city's   dross,   and   remove   its   alloy,   when   judges   like   those 

245 


[XII-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

of  David's  "golden  age"  may  lead  the  Remnant  into  the 
life  of  a  city  of  righteousness,  a  faithful  town. 

This  man  Isaiah  must  have  seemed  to  the  people  of  Jeru- 
salem to  be  offering  them  a  new  religion.  Ahaz  had  busied 
himself  to  reproduce  the  shape  and  style  of  a  heathen  altar 
and  place  it  in  the  ancient  temple  of  Solomon.  He  had  wor- 
shiped Jehovah  with  all  the  loathsome  rites  which  had  been 
known  in  the  ancient  shrines  before  the  days  of  conquest. 
Isaiah  would  have  nothing  of  all  this,  but  offered  the  people 
instead  the  religion  of  loyalty  to  God  and  man.  Isaiah's  God 
was  not  limited  by  the  boundaries  of  Palestine.  Assyria 
was  the  rod  of  Jehovah's,  anger,  the  staff  of  His  indignation. 
If  Assyria  should  boast  of  victory,  it  would  be  just  as  if 
the  axe  should  boast  itself  against  him  that  heweth  there- 
with, as  if  the  rod  should  wield  them  that  lift  it  up.  The 
mightiest  empire  of  the  world  was  to  Isaiah  but  a  club  in 
the  hand  of  his  God  (10:5,  15).  And  Isaiah's  God  could 
not  conceivably  be  interested  in  the  sacrificial  blood  of 
bullocks  or  of  lambs  or  of  he-goats,  nor  could  he  be  satis- 
fied with  images  of  silver  and  of  gold. 

Isaiah  did  not  break  many  new  paths  ;  he  greatly  widened 
those  already  broken.  He  spoke  to  his  people,  and  speaks 
to  us,  a  message  which  the  world  may  not  lightly  forget : 

(i)  Faith  is  the  touchstone  of  personal  and  national  char- 
acter and  destiny. 

(2)  Out  of  the  midst  of  general  civic  ruin  there  arises, 
will  arise,  a  remnant  consisting  of  the  loyal,  the  fraternal, 
and  the  prayerful,  saved  to  serve  the  ends  of  a  just  and 
loving  God. 

(3)  Jehovah  is  wise  to  thwart  the  shrewdness  of  his 
enemies,  and  holy,  "made  holy  through  righteousness." 

Greater  than  the  message  of  his  words  is  the  message  of 
the  prophet's  manhood.  It  was  not  easy  to  stand  alone  against 
the  crowd.  "Was  there  ever  a  collegian  who  turned  his  hat 
up,  and  his  trousers  down,  when  custom  prescribed  the  con- 
trary?" It  is  not  easy  to  stand  alone  when  patriotic  fears 
and   patriotic   hopes    invite   weather-vane    politicians    to    urge 

246 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XII-61 

false  alliances  and  foolish  wars.  "Safe  in  himself  as  in  a 
fate,"  safe  rather  in  his  God,  whose  volunteer  he  was, 
Isaiah  became  the  leader  of  the  prophet-statesmen  of  the 
world  who  have  guided  their  feet  by  the  stars. 

Words  used  of  Cromwell  may  be  used  with  even  greater 
pertinence  of  Isaiah :  "Firm  in  his  belief  in  direct  communion 
with  God,  a  sovereign  in  power  unseen,  hearkening  for  the 
divine  voice,  his  steps  guided  by  the  divine  hand,  yet  he 
moved  full  in  the  world,  and  in  the  life  of  the  world." 

It  thrills  a  man  to  remember  that  no  man  or  group  of  men 
have  the  monopoly  of  prophecy.  The  man  who  is  not  afraid 
of  the  crowd,  who  in  the  paths  of  the  world  is  guided  by 
his  God,  may  speak  God's  message. 

"There's  a  dead  hum  of  voices,  all  say  the  same  thing, 
And  our   forefathers'  songs  are  the   songs  that  we   sing ; 
And  the  deeds  by  our  fathers  and  grandfathers  done 
Are  done  by  the  son  of  the  son  of  the  son, 

And  our  heads  with  contrition  are  bowed. 
Lo,  a  call  for  a  man  who  shall  make  all  things  new 
Goes  down  through  the  throng !    See !    He  rises  in  view ! 
Make  room  for  the  man  who  shall  make  all  things  new  ! — 

For  the  man  who  comes  up  from  the  crowd. 

And  where  is  the  man  who  comes  up  from  the  throng 
Who  does  the  new  deed  and  who  sings  the  new  song. 
And  who  makes  the  old  world  as  a  world  that  is  new? 
And  who  is  the  man?     It  is  you!     It  is  you! 

And  our  praise  is  exultant  and  proud. 
We  are  waiting  for  you  there — for  you  are  the  man ! 
Come  up  from  the  jostle  as  soon  as  you  can ; 
Come  up  from  the  crowd  there,  for  you  are  the  man — 

The  man  who  comes  up  from  the  crowd." 

— Sam  Walter  Foss,  "The  Man  from  the  Crowd." 

Up  he  comes  from  the  crowd  to  hear  God's  word  which 
shall  bless  the  crowd,  and  make  the  old  world  new. 

Twelfth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

2.  MicAH,  THE  Village  Prophet 

Read  Micah  i  and  3,  noting  the  attitude  of  the  village  prophet 
as  compared  with  Isaiah,  the  prophet  of  the  city. 

247 


[XII-6]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

a.  Bad  Tunes  and  Bad  Men. 

Isaiah  was  a  man  of  the  city,  famihar  with  embassies  and 
courts  and  kings.  He  identified  himself  with  Jerusalem  as 
did  Savonarola  with  Florence.  From  the  battlements  of  the 
capital  he  saw  and  knew  the  meaning  of  the  Assyrian  advance. 
Micah  was  a  villager,  who  saw  the  forces  of  Sennacherib 
plowing  their  terrible  furrow  through  the  little  towns  and 
hamlets  which  he  knew  and  loved.  Probably  to  the  village- 
dweller  in  Europe  the  expected  burning  of  Paris  or  Berlin 
would  not  bring  such  emotions  as  would  the  actual  desolation 
of  some  neighboring  town,  whose  quiet  spires  in  the  distance 
have  been  as  familiar  as  the  quiet  trees,  whose  quiet  homes 
have  sheltered  married  sons  and  daughters  and  dear  friends. 

So  Micah  wails  for  the  villages  which  become  the  victims 
of  Assyrian  atrocities.  He  betrays  a  love  of  punning  and 
assonance  which  seems  to  us  to  cheapen  the  dignity  of  his 
message ;  but  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  "puns  were  not  for 
the  Hebrews  what  they  are  with  us,  mere  plays  on  words, 
for  as  the  name  had  a  relation  to  the  thing,  which  tran- 
scends our  perception,  so  there  was  in  the  similarity  of  sound 
between  two  words  a  mystical  connection  of  the  things  them- 
selves. 'Nomen  est  omen'  is  a  conception  that  was  developed 
on  the  soil  of  antiquity." 

In  his  temper,  Micah  seems  to  combine  to  a  large  degree 
the  qualities  of  Amos,  Hosea,  and  Isaiah.  He  is  a  prophet 
of  the  poor.  With  a  villager's  eyes  he  sees  the  crimes  of 
the  capital.  He  goes  further  than  Amos  in  his  denunciation 
of  civic  rulers.     Cannibals,  he  calls  them. 

And  I  said.  Hear,  I  pray  you,  ye  heads  of  Jacob,  and 
rulers  of  the  house  of  Israel :  is  it  not  for  you  to 
know  justice?  ye  who  hate  the  good,  and  love  the  evil; 
who  pluck  off  their  skin  from  off  them,  and  their  flesh 
from  off  their  bones  ;  who  also  eat  the  flesh  of  my  peo- 
ple, and  flay  their  skin  from  off  them,  and  break  their 
bones,  and  chop  them  in  pieces,  as  for  the  pot,  and  as 
flesh  within  the  caldron.  Then  shall  they  cry  unto  Je- 
hovah, but  he  will  not  answer  them ;  yea,  he  will  hide 

248 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XII-6] 

his    face    from   them   at   that    time,    according   as    they 
have  wrought  evil  in  their  doings. — Micah  3:  1-4. 

He  scores  the  prophets  who  cry,  "Peace,  peace,"  but  proclaim 
a  holy  war  if  you  don't  keep  their  mouths  filled. 

He  pierces  the  pseudo-patriotism  which  tells  the  prophet 
not  to  prophesy  such  harsh  and  unpleasant  things :  "Is  Jehovah 
impatient?  Are  we  not  all  honorable  men?  Is  not  Jehovah 
in  the  midst  of  us?  no  evil  shall  come  upon  us"  (see  3:  11). 
With  Isaiah  in  his  sternest  messages,  Alicah  proclaims  cer- 
tain doom  to  Jerusalem,  to  the  very  temple  itself.  "Therefore 
shall  Zion  for  your  sake  be  plowed  as  a  field,  and  Jerusalem 
shall  become  heaps,  and  the  mountain  of  the  house  as  the 
high  places  of  a  forest"  (3;  12). 

b.  Real  Religion. 

Micah's  original  message  has  undergone  many  changes. 
The  prophecy  as  we  have  it  contains  one  passage  which, 
whether  by  Micah  or  by  some  later,  nameless  prophet,  de- 
serves to  be  learned  not  merely  by  memory,  but  by  heart. 

Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  Jehovah,  and  bow 
myself  before  the  high  God?  shall  I  come  before  him 
with  burnt-offerings,  with  calves  a  year  old?  will  Je- 
hovah be  pleased  with  thousands  of  rams,  or  with  ten 
thousands  of  rivers  of  oil?  shall  I  give  my  first-born 
for  my  transgression,  the  fruit  of  my  body  for  the  sin 
of  my  soul  ?  He  hath  showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is 
good ;  and  what  doth  Jehovah  require  of  thee,  but  to 
do  justly,  and  to  love  kindness  and  to  walk  humbly  with 
thy  God?— Micah  6:6-8. 

One  scholar  speaks  of  these  as  the  greatest  words  in  the 
Old  Testament.  Another  says,  "These  verses  may  raise  a 
well-founded  title  to  be  counted  as  the  most  important  in 
prophetic  literature."  When  President  Eliot  of  Harvard 
was  asked  by  the  authorities  to  suggest  eight  inscriptions  to 
be  placed  under  as  many  allegorical  statues  in  the  Congres- 
sional Library,  he  bade  them  write  this  verse  beneath  the 
statue  symbolizing  religion:  "What  doth  the  Lord  require  of 

249 


[XII-7]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God?" 

The  people  whom  the  prophet  addresses  have  apparently 
come  to  suspect  the  value  of  the  sacrifices  which  were  of  the 
very  essence  of  their  religious  practice.  "How  shall  we, 
how  can  we,  win  Jehovah's  favor?  If  we  should  multiply 
our  sacrifices,  and  pour  out  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of  oil, 
if  we  should  burn  our  firstborn  children  in  sacrifice  for  our 
sins,  would  Jehovah  be  pleased?"  What  is  the  prophet's 
answer? 

Twelfth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

(i)  "Do  justly."  Amos  and  Isaiah  both  would  have  said 
the  same  thing.  But  what  does  that  mean?  Professor 
Nash  reminds  us  of  the  definition  in  Justinian's  Code:  "Jus- 
tice is  the  steady  and  abiding  will  to  give  to  each  man  what 
belongs  to  him."  But  what  belongs  to  each  man?  Surely 
at  least  those  physical,  mental,  and  spiritual  possessions  which 
will  render  him  the  most  efficient  possible  servant  of  the 
social  welfare.  It  would  be  easier  for  the  American  people 
to  buy  up  the  whole  olive  crop  of  California,  and  to  pour 
out  all  the  oil  before  the  altar;  it  would  be  easier  for  us 
to  buy  up  the  entire  cattle  market  of  the  Argentine  for 
sacrifice,  than  to  do  justice;  unless — unless  v/e  have  learned 
first  to  respond  to  the  third  requirement. 

(2)  "Love  kindness."  Hosea  would  have  said  the  same 
thing.  It  is  worth  remembering  that  flirtation  is  not  love.  It 
is  one  thing  to  flirt  with  kindness  at  Thanksgiving  and 
Christmas.  It  is  quite  another  thing  to  love  kindness.  How 
searching,  too,  is  the  suggestion  of  the  union  between  justice 
and  kindness.  Some  men  are  just,  but  are  not  kind.  More 
men  are  kind,  but  are  not  just.  No  people  in  the  world  love 
better  than  we  democratic  Americans  to  be  benevolent  despots. 
To  be  just  and  kind  ! 

(3)  "Walk  humbly  with  thy  God."  Isaiah  would  have  said 
the  same  thing.  Thank  God,  obedience  to  this  last  command 
makes    possible   obedience    to    the    first    two.      Bidden    to    do 

250 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XII-7] 

justly,  trying  to  realize  what  justice  in  the  twentieth  century 
means,  we  think  obedience  is  impossible.  When  the  com- 
mand of  kindness  is  added,  obedience  seems  doubly  impos- 
sible. But  we  are  bidden  to  walk  "modestly"  with  God.  That 
surely  is  an  easy  command  to  obey.  Yes,  if  one  walks  near 
enough  to  God.  The  soldiers  marching  nearest  the  com- 
mander are  modest,  the  boasters  are  in  the  rear  ranks.  And 
now  we  discover  that  obedience  to  this  command  makes 
obedience  to  the  others  a  corollary.  Two  cannot  walk  to- 
gether unless  they  are  agreed.  If  one  walks  modestly  with 
God,  one  cannot  walk  in  the  path  of  injustice  and  unkindness, 
for  God  is  walking  the  other  way. 

We  should  like  to  know  more  about  Micah.  It  is  certain 
that  his  message  flew  right  in  the  face  of  the  clean-cut  con- 
victions of  his  contemporaries.  They  asked  in  perfect  good 
faith:  "Is  not  Jehovah  among  us?"  The  temple  of  Jehovah 
was  in  a  very  literal  sense  the  place  of  the  soles  of  Jehovah's 
feet.  If  the  city  is  destroyed,  the  temple  will  be  sacked,  and 
our  ever-victorious  deity  will  be  carried  off  to  Assyria — 
whipped,  dethroned,  exiled.  The  very  suggestion  is  at  once 
treason  and  blasphemy.  And  it  is  almost  certain  that  Micah 
was  labeled  traitor,  blasphemer. 

In  his  prophecy  there  is  one  bit  of  vivid  self-portraiture. 
Contrasting  himself  with  the  false  prophets  and  seers,  he 
says :  "As  for  me,  I  am  full  of  power  by  the  Spirit  of 
Jehovah,  and  of  judgment,  and  of  might,  to  declare  unto 
Jacob  his  transgression,  and  to  Israel  his  sin"  (3:8).  It 
has  been  well  said :  "We  have  here  a  revelation  of  the 
psychology  of  prophecy,  a  sense  namely  of  inner  illumination, 
and  the  discrimination  and  strength  to  speak  God's  word  to 
men." 

c.  The  Prophet's  Influence. 

It  is  good  to  recall  that,  along  with  Isaiah,  this  villager 
Micah  brought  about  a  reformation  in  Jerusalem  which  went 
beyond  externals,  and  transformed  lives.  It  is  also  good  to 
recall  that  the  experience  of  this  brave  and  modest  man  was 

251 


[XII-7]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

to  save  the  life  of  a  greater  prophet  a  hundred  years  later. 
In  Jeremiah  26 :  16-19  we  have  the  story  of  one  of  the  many 
conflicts  which  Jeremiah,  the  soldier  of  the  unshielded  heart, 
was  to  enter: 

Then  said  the  princes  and  all  the  people  unto  the 
priests  and  to  the  prophets :  This  man  is  not  worthy  of 
death ;  for  he  hath  spoken  to  us  in  the  name  of  Je- 
hovah our  God.  Then  rose  up  certain  of  the  elders  of 
the  land,  and  spake  to  all  the  assembly  of  the  people, 
saying,  Micah  the  Morashtite  prophesied  in  the  days  of 
Hezekiah  king  of  Judah ;  and  he  spake  to  all  the  people 
of  Judah,  saying.  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts :  Zion 
shall  be  plowed  as  a  field,  and  Jerusalem  shall  become 
heaps,  and  the  mountain  of  the  house  as  the  high  places 
of  a  forest.  Did  Hezekiah  king  of  Judah  and  all 
Judah  put  him  to  death?  did  he  not  fear  Jehovah,  and 
entreat  the  favor  of  Jehovah,  and  Jehovah  repented  him 
of  the  evil  which  he  had  pronounced  against  them? 
Thus  should  we  commit  great  evil  against  our  own 
souls. — Jer.  26:16-19. 

The  "hope"  passages  in  our  book  of  Micah  belong  perhaps 
to  a  later  period.  One  of  these,  Micah  7 :%,  is  used  most  skil- 
fully by  John  Bunyan  in  "Pilgrim's  Progress" :  "As  God 
would  have  it,  while  Apollyon  was  fetching  of  his  last  blow, 
thereby  to  make  a  full  end  of  this  good  man,  Christian 
nimbly  reached  out  his  hand  for  his  sword,  and  caught  it, 
saying,  'Rejoice  not  against  me  O  mine  enemy!  when  I  fall, 
I  shall  arise' ;  and  with  that  gave  him  a  deadly  thrust,  which 
made  him  give  back  as  one  that  had  received  his  mortal 
wound." 

Micah's  viewpoint  as  a  villager  is  new ;  his  figures  of  speech 
are  new  and  picturesque.  In  his  characterizations  of  God  and 
sin  and  duty,  he  does  not  seem  to  go  beyond  his  predeces- 
sors. But  in  none  of  them  do  we  find  so  concise  a  summary 
of  the  essential  elements  of  all  true  religion  as  in  our  present 
book  of  Micah. 

Concluding  Note 
To  conclude  our  work  with  the  eighth  century  prophets: 
252 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [XII-7] 

these  men  have  given  us  a  conception  of  Jehovah  as  a  deity, 
who  governs  by  a  justice  which  plays  no  favorites,  accepts 
no  substitutes,  admits  no  exceptions;  a  deity  whose  provi- 
dence is  not  provincial  but  practically,  if  not  theoretically, 
universal.  They  have  given  us  a  conception  of  Jehovah  as  a 
God  whose  justice  is  consistent  with  endless,  fathomless, 
redemptive  love,  a  love  which  can  be  satisfied  with  nothing 
less  than  leal-love.  They  have  given  us  the  conception  of 
Jehovah  as  a  God  who,  while  just  and  loving,  is  also  wise 
to  carry  through  his  purposes  by  the  cooperation  of  loyal, 
loving,  prayerful  men — in  the  life  of  the  city  if  the  city  be 
worthy,  regardless  of  the  city  if  the  city  be  unworthy;  a 
God  who  is  holy  with  the  holiness  of  righteousness,  and 
glorious  with  a  glory  that  fills  the  earth.  They  (or  in  their 
name,  worthy  successors)  have  given  us  the  conception  of 
Jehovah  as  a  God  who,  though  an  Infinite  Demander,  requires 
nothing  more  of  his  people  than  justice,  kindness,  and  modest 
companionship  with  him. 

In  the  spring  of  1917  the  National  School  Camp  Associa- 
tion issued  an  appeal  to  the  entire  population  of  the  United 
States  to  "stop  and  think"  for  one  minute  at  noon  on 
Memorial  Day.  The  suggestion  seemed  at  first  almost  gro- 
tesque, but  it  was  worthy  of  universal  adoption.  One  minute 
a  day  spent  by  the  men  of  America  with  the  eighth  century 
prophets,  and  another  minute  a  day  spent  with  the  messages 
of  the  Master — who  knowing  well  the  prophets,  filled  full 
their  messages — would  suffice  to  re-create  the  life  of  America. 

Men  like  these  four  men  are  the  strengtheners  of  the  heart 
of  mankind. 


"Ye  alight  in  our  van !  at  your  voice. 
Panic,  despair,  flee  away. 
Ye  move  through  the  ranks,  recall 
The    stragglers,    refresh    the    outworn, 
Praise,  re-inspire  the  brave ! 
Order,  courage,  return. 
Eyes  rekindling,  and  prayers, 
Follow  your  steps  as  ye  go. 

253 


[Xll-q]    RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Ye  fill  up  the  gaps  in  our  files, 
Strengthen  the  wavering  line, 
Stablish,  continue  our  march, 
On,  to  the  bound  of  the  waste, 
On,  to  the  City  of  God." 

— Matthew  Arnold,  "Rugby  Chapel." 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  Dr.  Fosdick  quotes  George  Eliot's  description  of  Hetty 
in  Adam  Bede :  "Hetty  was  one  of  those  numerous  people 
who  have  had  god-fathers  and  god-mothers,  learned  their 
catechism,  been  confirmed,  and  gone  to  church  every  Sun- 
day, and  yet  for  any  practical  result  of  strength  in  life  or 
trust  in  death,  have  never  appropriated  a  single  Christian 
idea  or  Christian  feeling."  Compare  Hetty's  religion  with 
that  of  the  average  Israelite  in  Amos's  day. 

2.  When  Octavia  Hill  went  to  a  house-owner  to  ask  him 
to  improve  his  tenements,  on  the  ground  that  such  improve- 
ments would  be  profitable  to  him,  he  replied :  "O  mum,  it's 
not  the  rents  I  depend  on  for  my  profits,  it's  the  funerals." 
Could  that  man  have  been  a  member  in  good  and  regular 
standing  of  the  religious  community  in  Bethel? 

3.  How  would  the  popular  religion  of  the  days  of  Amos 
be  afifected  by  the  victories  or  defeats  of  Israel,  by  large 
harvests  or  crop  failures?  Hovvt  would  Amos  interpret  such 
events  ? 

4.  Consider  what  a  famine  means,  and  then  answer  honestly 
whether  you  believe  a  famine  of  bread  or  a  famine  of  hear- 
ing the  word  of  Jehovah  would  be  worse.  Give  reason  for 
answer. 

5.  It  has  been  claimed  that  there  is  no  love  in  Amos.  Can 
you  disprove  the  statement? 

6.  Would  you  say  that  a  man  today,  who  shared  Isaiah's 
sanity  and  sagacity,  could  have  a  vision  comparable  with  his? 

7.  Do  you  believe  that  if  a  nation  today  should  live  the 
life  of  absolute  trust  in  a  just,  powerful,  loving,  universal 
God,  it  would  certainly  survive  and  prosper? 

8.  If   Isaiah  tried  to  keep   Ahaz   from  calling  in  Assyrian 

254 


OLD  PROBLEMS  AND  NEW  PROPHETS    [Xll-q] 

aid,    why    did    he    object   to    Hezekiah's    proposed    resistance 
to  Assyria? 

9.  Characterize  the  religion  which  Isaiah  thought  could 
satisfy  God. 

10.  If  a  typical  citizen  of  Jerusalem  had  believed  the  words 
of  Isaiah  and  of  Micah,  what  changes  would  his  belief  have 
wrought  in  his  conception  of  God,  of  religion,  of  duty? 


255 


CHAPTER  IX 

Politics  and  Prophecy  in  the  Days  of 
Judah's  Decline  and  Fall 

Introductory 

Thirteenth  Week,  First  Day. 

We  believe  it  was  Jacob  Riis  who  suggested  that  the  moral 
histor}'  of  New  York  City  may  be  illustrated  by  an  upward- 
moving  spiral.  As  a  circle,  or  cycle,  of  the  history  is  com- 
pleted, and  one  attempts  to  measure  the  advance,  it  seems  as 
if  a  given  circle  were  but  a  hair's  breadth  above  the  previous 
circle ;  but  it  is  above  and  not  below.  The  movement  is  one 
of  ascent — often  interrupted,  often  hesitant — but  ascent,  not 
descent.  One  is  reminded  of  the  figure  as  one  studies  the 
moral  and  religious  history  of  Israel.  In  the  period  covered 
by  our  present  chapter,  we  mark  at  first  steady  progress  under 
the  skilled  and  strong  hand  of  Isaiah.  Then  comes  a  grievous 
stoppage,  in  the  reactionary  rule  of  Manasseh.  Once  more 
the  spiral  sweeps  up,  through  the  prophetic  activities  of 
Zephaniah,  Nahum,  and  Jeremiah,  to  the  reformation  under 
Josiah.  Another  tragic  interruption  we  shall  note  as  we  study 
the  religious  degradation  and  political  death  of  Judah  in 
the  days  of  Jehoiakim  and  his  successors.  But  even  at  the 
last,  in  the  prophecy  of  Habakkuk,  "doubtful  in  the  midst  of 
his  faith,  faithful  in  the  oiidst  of  his  doubt,"  and  again  in  the 
prophecy  of  Jeremiah,  we  see  a  movement  upward,  which 
will  not  be  stopped  even  by  the  Exile  itself. 

I.  Manasseh,  the  Reactionary 
Through  the  early  years  of  the  seventh  century  Hezekiah 
256 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIII-i] 

seems  to  have  wrought  to  consolidate  the  reforms  demanded 
by  Isaiah.     To  the  last,  Isaiah  himself 

"held  his  place — 
Held  the  long  purpose  like  a  growing  tree — 
Held  on  through  blame  and  faltered  not  at  praise, 
And  when  he  fell  in  whirlwind,  he  went  down 
As  when  a  kingly  cedar  green  with  boughs 
Goes  down  with  a  great  shout  upon  the  hills 
And  leaves  a  lonesome  space  against  the  sky." 

Tribute  to  Assyria  steadily  drained  the  resources  of  the 
little  state  of  Judah,  vassalage  was  ever  irksome  to  the  high- 
landers  in  their  brave  old  fortress  of  Jerusalem.  The  city 
of  Jehovah's  throne,  the  city  which  alone  did  honor  to  his 
name,  surely  ought  to  live  in  perennial  peace  and  prosperity, 
the  inviolate  daughter  of  Zion.  History  banished  the  fair 
dream. 

In  686  (692?)  B.  C,  Hezekiah  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Manasseh.  Sennacherib,  the  Assyrian  despot,  died,  but  his 
death  did  the  little  states  of  the  west  no  good.  Esarhaddon 
was  a  strong  and  astute  r-uler.  He  besieged  and  leveled  to 
the  ground  the  city  of  Sidon.  He  dared  even  to  advance 
against  Egypt,  the  ancient  seat  of  civilization,  luxury,  and 
power.  To  the  amazement  of  the  world  the  Assyrian  laid 
waste  the  beautiful  city  of  Memphis,  and  set  up  rulers  of  his 
selection  over  all  the  "nomes"  of  Egypt.  Nor  was  Esarhaddon 
content  with  the  triumphs  of  the  field.  He  rebuilt  on  a 
magnificent  scale  the  ancient  city  of  Babylon.  He  died  in 
668  B.  C,  but  was  immediately  succeeded  by  his  son  Ashur- 
banipal.  With  all  their  watchful  waiting,  the  patriots  of 
Jerusalem  saw  no  chance  to  throw  off  the  Assyrian  yoke. 
Ashurbanipal  did  engage  in  wasteful  foreign  and  civil  war, 
but  he  found  leisure  to  build  up  a  vast  library  of  some  ten 
thousand  tablets,  and  to  foster  the  arts  of  peace,  as  those  of 
war.     The  Judean  hope  of  liberty  proved  illusory. 

While  Manasseh's  long  reign  was  apparently  a  period  of 
reasonable  security  and  social  well-being,  it  witnessed  a 
violent    moral    and    religious    reaction.      It    probably    seemed 

257 


[XIII-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

evident  to  Manasseh  that  Jehovah  alone  was  not  strong 
enough  to  save  the  state.  The  prophetic  party  may  well  have 
aroused  the  king's  wrath.  With  grim  determination,  Ma- 
nasseh entered  upon  a  course  which  Isaiah  would  have 
counted  utter  apostasy. 

And  he  did  that  which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of  Je- 
hovah, after  the  abominations  of  the  nations  whom 
Jehovah  cast  out  before  the  children  of  Israel.  For  he 
built  again  the  high  places  which  Hezekiah  his  father 
had  destroyed ;  and  he  reared  up  altars  for  Baal,  and 
made  an  Asherah,  as  did  Ahab  king  of  Israel,  and 
worshipped  all  the  host  of  heaven,  and  served  them. 
And  he  built  altars  in  the  house  of  Jehovah,  whereof 
Jehovah  said,  In  Jerusalem  will  I  put  my  name.  And 
he  built  altars  for  all  the  host  of  heaven  in  the  two 
courts  of  the  house  of  Jehovah.  And  he  made  his  son 
to  pass  through  the  fire,  and  practised  augury,  and  used 
enchantments,  and  dealt  with  them  that  had  familiar 
spirits,  and  with  wizards  :  he  wrought  much  evil  in  the 
sight  of  Jehovah,  to  provoke  him  to  anger.  And  he 
set  the  graven  image  of  Asherah,  that  he  had  made,  in 
the  house  of  which  Jehovah  said  to  David  and  to  Solo- 
mon his  son,  In  this  house,  and  in  Jerusalem,  which 
I  have  chosen  out  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  will  I  put 
my  name  for  ever. — II  Kings  21  :  2-7, 


a.  He  "reared  up  altars  for  Baal,  and  made  an  Asherah,  as 
did  Ahab  king  of  Israel."  The  reference  to  Ahab  suggests 
that  Manasseh  may  have  reintroduced  into  Jerusalem  the 
worship  of  the  Tyrian  baal,  Melkart,  which  had  been  dis- 
credited in  the  days  of  Athaliah.  If  he  did  not  differentiate 
his  Baal  from  Jehovah,  he  worshiped  him  with  all  the  in- 
famous rites  of  the  "heathen."  He  "made  his  son  to  pass 
through  the  fire" ;  and  though  some  scholars  would  soften 
the  meaning  of  the  words,  they  probably  mean  not  simply  a 
symbolic  purification  by  fire,  but  the  actual  sacrifice  of  his 
son  as  a  burnt-offering  to  his  deity. 

b.  Again,  he  "worshiped  all  the  host  of  heaven,"  and  in 
the  very  courts  of  the  house  of  Jehovah  he  built  altars   for 

258 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIII-i] 

his  devotions.  The  worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies  was  com- 
mon to  the  whole  Semitic  world,  but  was  pursued  with 
specially  elaborate  ceremonialism  in  Assyria.  Assyria  was  the 
world's  mistress.  The  stars  in  their  courses  fought  for  those 
who  acknowledged  the  stellar  control  of  the  affairs  of  nations. 
Assyria  was  arrogant,  yes;  hateful,  yes;  but  successful. 
Assyria  feared  no  foreign  nation  and  no  foreign  god.  There 
is  a  curious  incident  recorded  in  one  of  Esarhaddon's  in- 
scriptions. In  former  wars,  the  Assyrians  had  captured  the 
gods  of  the  king  of  Aribi.  Now  the  king  of  Aribi  prayed 
Esarhaddon  to  return  to  him  his  gods,  and  the  great  king 
writes  :  "I  showed  him  favor,  and  repaired  the  broken  por- 
tions of  those  gods;  the  power  of  Ashur  my  lord,  as  well 
as  my  name  I  inscribed  upon  them,  and  gave  them  back  to 
him."  Certainly  the  great  king  would  repair  and  return  the 
gods  of  the  vassal  king,  as  a  bully  might  return  to  a  crying 
child  his  stolen  toys ;  but  he  must  first  contemptuously  chisel 
his  own  name  and  the  name  of  his  big  god  upon  the  idols. 
If  a  king  were  really  seeking  the  progress  of  his  state,  he 
would  do  well  to  win  the  support  of  the  mighty  gods  of 
Assyria.  The  worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies  promoted  by 
Manasseh  was  contagious.  Soon  the  flat  housetops  of  Jeru- 
salem became  shrines  to  the  host  of  heaven. 

c.  He  "used  enchantments,  and  dealt  with  them  that  had 
familiar  spirits,  and  with  wizards."  The  author  of  the 
record  apparently  believed  in  the  reality  of  the  enchantments 
and  of  the  familiar  spirits,  and  in  the  actual  witchery  of 
the  wizards,  but  he  knew  that  the  worshiper  of  Jehovah  could 
have  nothing  to  do  with  these  ways  of  the  heathen. 

d.  Aloreover  Manasseh  "shed  innocent  blood  very  much, 
till  he  had  filled  Jerusalem  from  one  end  to  another"  (II 
Kings  2i:i6).  The  fierce  and  fanatical  character  of  the 
reaction  revealed  itself  in  a  bloody  persecution  of  the  pro- 
phetic party.  One  is  reminded  of  the  Massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  1572,  in  which,  at  the  instigation  of  Catherine 
de'  Medici,  perhaps  50,000  Protestants  of  France  were  slain. 
As  France  then  lost  some  of  her  noblest  sons  and  daughters, 

259 


[XIII-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

so  in  Manasseh's  day  Judah,  in  her  modest  massacre,  prob- 
ably lost  many  of  her  noblest  and  best. 

History  records  many  stories  of  religious  reactions.  Shortly 
after  Constantine  had  made  Christianity  the  religion  of  his 
empire,  Julian  the  Apostate  openly  avowed  himself  a  pagan. 
"The  symbols  of  paganism  and  of  the  imperial  dignity  were 
so  artfully  interwoven  on  the  standards  of  the  legions  that 
they  could  not  pay  the  usual  homage  to  the  emperor  without 
seeming  to  offer  worship  to  the  gods;  and  when  the  soldiers 
came  forward  to  receive  the  customary  donative,  they  were 
required  to  throw  a  handful  of  incense  on  the  altar."  Julian 
himself  joined  with  his  love  of  philosophy  "a  devotion  to 
the  old  superstitions,  was  greatly  given  to  divination,  and 
was  noted  for  the  number  of  his  sacrificial  victims." 

On  quite  a  different  plane  of  culture,  the  people  of  Mada- 
gascar passed  through  a  not  dissimilar  period  of  reaction. 
Missionaries  came  to  the  island  in  1818.  For  fifteen  years 
Christianity  went  on  conquering  and  to  conquer.  Then 
heathenism  came  back.  For  twenty-six  years  it  was  a  capital 
offense  to  be  a  Christian ;  and  from  "the  rock  of  hurling" 
the  believers  in  Jesus  were  cast  into  the  sea.  It  was  the 
queen's  will.  It  is,  however,  to  be  noted  that  Manasseh 
did  not  consciously  renounce  Jehovah  worship.  It  is  quite 
certain  that  he  still  paid  homage  to  Isaiah's  God,  but  saw 
in  him  only  one  deity  of  his  enlarging  pantheon. 

So  far  as  one  may  judge,  Manasseh  carried  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  with  him.  Few  facts  are  more  startling  than 
the  persistence  of  ancient  superstitions  and  of  heathen  cus- 
toms. A  university  man  of  India  may  loudly  proclaim  his 
agnosticism  among  his  fellow-students,  and  bow  reverently 
with  his  family  in  devotion  to  the  gods  of  his  village.  One 
thinks  of  China  as  casting  her  idols  into  the  river,  "facing 
the  dawn" ;  but  one  reads  as  well  of  a  new  temple  to  cost 
$230,000,  nearly  twice  as  much  as  its  predecessor.  One  reads 
the  words  of  a  careful  missionary :  "Idolatry  is  not  dying  out 
even  in  centers  where  strenuous  missionary  efforts  have  been 
pursued,  and  the  power  of  the  Gospel  has  mightily  worked. 

260 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIII-2] 

Here  within  sight  of   K ,  where   mission  work  has  been 

going  on  uninterruptedly  over  fifty  years,  and  where  there 
are  more  than  1,000  children  in  our  schools,  three  churches, 
a  Christian  hospital,  and  daily  distribution  of  gospels  and 
tracts,  the  rankest  heathenism  has  been  developing."^ 

Thirteenth  Week,  Second  Day. 

On  the  front  wall  of  the  New  York  Public  Library,  there 
is  a  beautiful  quotation  from  one  of  the  apocrypha,  I  Esdras, 
which  reads,  "But  above  all  things,  truth  beareth  away  the 
victory."  Yes,  but  truth  seems  as  often  to  be  upon  the  scaf- 
fold of  the  victim  as  on  the  throne  of  the  victor.  For  prac- 
tically half  a  century  the  truth,  for  which  Isaiah  fought  and 
died,  was  apparently  whipped  in  the  very  city  of  Jehovah. 

In  641  B.  C.  Manasseli  was  succeeded  by  a  son  after  his 
own  heart,  Amon.  The  assassination  of  the  new  king  in  639 
B.  C.  brought  to  the  throne  his  son  Josiah,  eight  years  old. 

The  name  of  the  young  son  was  of  good  omen.  It  means 
"Jehovah  supports."  It  suggests  the  possibility  that  in  the 
household  of  his  idolatrous  father  there  were  influences  favor- 
able to  exclusive  Jehovah  worship  and  to  the  prophetic  party. 
The  reforming  tendencies  of  the  king  probably  appeared 
early.  But  before  we  study  Josiah's  great  Reformation,  let 
us  turn  to  consider  a  prophet  whose  work  seems  to  have  been 
mainly  done  in  the  earlier  years  of  Josiah's  reign. 

2.  Zephaniah,  Aristocratic  Foe  of  Aristocrats 

Read  Zeph.  i  for  vivid  portrayal  of  the  sin — and  the  doom — 
of  Jerusalem. 

In  none  of  the  great  "killing  times"  of  history  have  all  the 
friends  of  truth  been  killed.  In  Manasseh's  time  and  prob- 
ably in  his  capital,  a  boy  grew  to  maturity,  who  is  styled  "the 
son  of  Cushi,  the  son  of  Gedaliah,  the  son  of  Amariah,  the 
son  of  Hezekiah."    It  seems  probable  that  the  long  genealogy 

1  The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World,  July,  1918,  p.  S06. 
261 


[XIII-2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

would  trace  our  prophet's  lineage  to  King  Hezekiah  himself. 
The  prophet's  name,  Zephaniah,  means  "Jehovah  is  protector," 
or  "The  one  whom  Jehovah  hides"  ;  and  may  give  hint  of  his 
possible  concealment  as  a  child  from  the  royal  persecution. 

a.  The  Prophet's  World. 

As  the  prophet  looks  out  upon  his  world  in  the  early  days 
of  Josiah,  he  marks  the  prevalence  of  foreign  customs  in 
tailoring  and  in  worshiping.  There  are  those  "who  are  clothed 
in  foreign  apparel,"  taking  the  last  hint  from  the  styles  of 
other  lands,  marking  thus  "a  decadence  of  the  national  spirit," 
marking,  too,  their  wanton  extravagance,  and  the  adoption  of 
foreign  ways  in  religion  as  in  dress.  Then  there  are  those 
who  "leap  over  the  threshold"  apparently  of  the  temple  itself, 
in  obedience  to  a  widespread  superstition  which  conceived 
the  threshold  "as  a  favorite  abode  of  demons  and  spirits." 
Then  there  are  those  who  swear  to  Jehovah  and  swear  by 
Malcam  (or  Milcom).  "The  recently  discovered  papyri  of 
Elephantine"  show  "a  Jewish  woman  in  a  legal  transaction 
taking  oath  both  by  Yahweh  and  by  Sati,  an  Egyptian  god."' 
This  was  as  late  as  the  fifth  century  B.  C. 

The  double  oath  meant  of  course  divided  allegiance,  a  sort 
of  pernicious  "double  citizenship"  in  the  kingdom  of  Jehovah 
and  in  the  kingdom  of  a  heathen  deity.  From  his  housetop 
in  the  evening  the  prophet  sees  other  housetops  illumined  by 
the  lighted  altars  of  sacrifice  to  the  host  of  heaven.  He 
walks  out  into  the  street  and  hears  the  conversation  of  men, 
"who  are  thickening  upon  the  lees,"  in  "the  putrescence  of 
respectability,"  men  who  have  come  to  a  totally  new  position, 
who  say  "Jehovah  will  not  do  good,  neither  will  he  do  evil" 
(1:12).  Such  a  remark  would  have  been  incredible  to  the 
Israelite  of  the  days  of  Amos,  or  of  the  days  of  Isaiah. 
"What!  Is  not  Jehovah  strong  to  do  good  and  evil?  Do  you 
mean  to  tell  us  that  the  God  who  brought  us  up  out  of  Egypt, 
who  led  us  through  the  Red  Sea,  who  drove  out  before  us 


2  Int.  Com.,  Zephaniah,  p.  189. 

262 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIII-3] 

our  enemies,  who  gave  us  great  kings,  who  set  his  throne 
in  our  city,  is  now  grown  impotent?  Are  we  not  necessarily 
the  prime  favorites  of  the  mighty  God,  Jehovah?"  But  there 
is  a  new  atmosphere  in  Jerusalem  now.  The  long  years  have 
withered  hope  and  faith.  In  these  men  who  proclaim  the 
indifference  or  impotence  of  Jehovah  we  have  essentially  the 
thought  of  the  Lotos-Eaters,  whose  gods  are  careless  of 
mankind,  and  smile  in  secret, 

"looking  over  wasted  lands. 
Blight  and  famine,  plague  and  earthquake,  roaring  deeps  and 

fiery  sands. 
Clanging  fights,   and   flaming  towns,   and   sinking  ships,  and 

praying  hands." 

But  the  prophet,  as  he  passes  from  the  street,  turns  to  the 
homes  of  royalty,  to  which  his  own  rank  would  admit  him,  and 
there  he  sees  those  who  not  only  ape  foreign  customs,  but 
"fill  their  master's  house  with  deceit  and  violence."  Show  me 
the  God  you  worship,  and  I  will  tell  you  the  kind  of  man 
you  are.  Worshipers  of  foreign  dress  and  foreign  deities 
will  not  scruple  to  use  fraud  and  force  when  occasion  calls. 

Thirteenth  Week,  Third  Day. 

b.  The  Prophet's  Message. 

What  will  the  prophet  say  to  this  world  of  his? 

The  great  day  of  Jehovah  is  near,  it  is  near  and 
hasteth  greatly,  even  the  voice  of  the  day  of  Jehovah; 
the  mighty  man  crieth  there  bitterly.  That  day  is  a 
day  of  wrath,  a  day  of  trouble  and  distress,  a  day  of 
wasteness  and  desolation,  a  day  of  darkness  and  gloomi- 
ness, a  day  of  clouds  and  thick  darkness,  a  day  of  the 
trumpet  and  alarm,  against  the  fortified  cities,  and 
against  the  high  battlements. — Zeph.  i :  14-16. 

His  terrible  words  have  found  their  way  into  one  of  the 
hymns  of  the  medieval  Church,  "Dies  irae,  dies  ilia." 

Like  his   predecessors   in  the   Northern   and   the   Southern 
Kingdoms,  Zephaniah  usually  thinks  of  the  Day  of  Jehovah 

263 


[XIII-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

as  the  issue  of  a  series  of  historical  events,  involving,  not 
the  exaltation,  but  the  doom  of  the  kingdom  at  the  hands  of 
a  definite  political  foe.  The  foe  whom  the  prophet  expects 
to  serve  as  the  rod  of  Jehovah's  anger  upon  Jerusalem  is 
probably  a  new  foe,  the  Scythians.  "Bursting  forth  from 
behind  their  mountain  barriers  in  the  dark  mysterious  north, 
these  barbarians  poured  down  upon  the  ancient  seats  of 
luxury  and  civilization,  spreading  terror  as  they  moved.  They 
penetrated  to  the  borders  of  Egypt,  where  Psammetichus 
king  of  Egypt  met  them,  and  dissuaded  them  from  advancing 
further,  by  prayers  and  gifts.  For  twenty-eight  years, 
Herodotus  tells  us,  they  held  sway  in  Western  Asia,  and 
turned  everything  upside  down  by  their  overbearing  inso- 
lence and  unrestrained  plundering."  These  "Huns"  of  an 
earlier  day  probably  stirred  to  flame  the  spirit  of  prophecy 
both  in  Zephaniah  and  his  contemporary  Jeremiah.  The  foe 
then  is  new,  but  the  prophet's  thought  is  not  new.  Sin  means 
punishment;  punishment  is  to  come  through  the  onslaught 
of  a  well-known  and  greatly-feared  army  of  aliens. 

But  there  appears  once  or  twice  in  our  prophecy  a  type 
of  thought  not  characteristic  of  the  prophets  whom  we  have 
studied.  It  is  illustrated  by  the  passage  Zeph.  i :  2,  3 :  "I  will 
utterly  consume  all  things  from  ofif  the  face  of  the  ground, 
saith  Jehovah.  I  will  consume  man  and  beast;  I  will  consume 
the  birds  of  the  heavens,  and  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  and  the 
stumblingblocks  with  the  wicked ;  and  I  will  cut  off  man 
from  off  the  face  of  the  ground,  saith  Jehovah." 

The  popular  theology  looked  forward  to  a  Day  when  by 
miraculous  cataclysm  all  the  foes  of  Israel  should  be  swept 
from  the  earth,  when  all  the  difficult  elements  of  life  should 
be  transfigured,  when  Israel  should  rule — supreme  and  su- 
premely happy.  Now  this  popular  "apocalyptic"  (unveiling 
of  supernatural  events)  enters  prophecy  in  obtrusive  fashion. 
We  shall  observe  later  its  unwholesome  tendencies.  But — 
and  here  we  note  the  stern  morality  of  the  prophet — 
Zephaniah  does  not  exempt  from  the  great  catastrophe  "the 
chosen   people."      Indeed,    he    feels    sure    that    in   the    world 

264 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIII-4] 

cataclysm  the  self-complacent  citizens  of  Jerusalem  are 
themselves  to  be  engulfed.  Our  prophet  does  not  linger  long 
in  the  unhealthful  atmosphere  of  apocalyptic.  He  concerns 
himself  largely  with  forces  now  operating  upon  the  earth. 
He  sees  Jehovah  as  a  kind  of  divine  •Diogenes,  searching  the 
city  with  a  lamp  to  find,  not  the  honest  man,  but  the  sinners, 
the  judges  who  are  ravening  wolves,  the  prophets  who  are 
light  and  treacherous  persons.  With  the  certainty  of  the 
returning  day-dawn  does  Jehovah  every  morning  establish 
justice   (3:5)- 

Zephaniah  is  not  perhaps  a  prophet  of  the  first  rank,  but 
there  is  a  frightful  realism  about  his  message  that  grips 
one.  He  uses  for  example  the  ghastly  figure  of  Jehovah's 
sacrifice.  God  summons  his  guests  to  the  woeful  feast,  and 
the  victims  of  the  sacrifice  are — who?  who  but  the  people  of 
Jerusalem  themselves,  God's  chosen  ones  (1:7).  We  shall 
hear  more  of  that  figure  of  speech  in  the  later  prophets. 
There  must  have  been  a  terrifying  quality  about  the  man — 
this  aristocrat  who  doomed  the  aristocracy. 

"You  must  become  fanatic,  be  a  wedge,  a  thunderbolt. 
To  smite  a  passage  through  this  close-grained  world." 

What  impression  he  made  upon  his  time,  we  do  not  know. 
He  may  have  been  one  of  those  who  smote  "a  passage"  for 
the  Great  Reformation. 

Thirteenth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

3.  The  Discovery  of  Deuteronomy 

Read  Deut.  28  and  30,  most  noble  expressions  of  the  He- 
brew faith,  among  the  words  which  worthily  crown  the 
Deuteronomic  legislation. 

And  Hilkiah  the  high  priest  said  unto  Shaphan  the 
scribe,  I  have  found  the  book  of  the  law  in  the  house 
of  Jehovah.  And  Hilkiah  delivered  the  book  to  Sha- 
phan, and  he  read  it.  And  Shaphan  the  scribe  carne 
to  the  king,  and  brought  the  king  word  again,  and  said, 

265 


[XIII-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Thy  servants  have  emptied  out  the  money  that  was 
found  in  the  house,  and  have  delivered  it  into  the 
hand  of  the  workmen  that  have  the  oversight  of  the 
house  of  Jehovah.  And  Shaphan  the  scribe  told  the 
king,  saying,  Hilkiah  the  priest  hath  delivered  me  a 
book.  And  Shaphan,  read  it  before  the  king.  And  it 
came  to  pass,  when  the  king  had  heard  the  words  of 
the  book  of  the  law,  that  he  rent  his  clothes.  And 
the  king  commanded  Hilkiah  the  priest,  and  Ahikam 
the  son  of  Shaphan,  and  Achbor  the  son  of  Micaiah, 
and  Shaphan  the  scribe,  and  Asaiah  the  king's  servant, 
saying,  Go  ye,  inquire  of  Jehovah  for  me,  and  for  the 
people,  and  for  all  Judah,  concerning  the  words  of  this 
book  that  is  found ;  for  great  is  the  wrath  of  Jehovah 
that  is  kindled  against  us,  because  our  fathers  have  not 
hearkened  unto  the  words  of  this  book,  to  do  according 
unto  all  that  which  is  written  concerning  us. — II  Kings 
22:  8-13. 

As  the  officials  of  Josiah  were  cleansing  and  repairing  the 
temple,  so  long  desecrated  or  neglected,  there  was  discovered 
in  the  temple  debris  "the  book  of  the  law."  This  book  in- 
cluded certainly  the  chapters  of  Deut.  12  to  26,  and  possibly 
5  to  26  or  28.  As  has  been  suggested  (p.  8),  the  book  is 
the  product  of  prophetic  and  of  priestly  influences. 

Again  and  again  we  hear  the  voice  of  prophecy  at  its  best : 
"Ye  are  the  children  of  Jehovah  your  God"  (Deut.  14:  i). 
"Thou  shalt  be  perfect  with  Jehovah  thy  God"  (18:  13).  The 
prophet's  fierce  message  of  uncompromising  loyalty  to  Je- 
hovah we  hear : 

If  thy  brother,  the  son  of  thy  mother,  or  thy  son, 
or  thy  daughter,  or  the  wife  of  thy  bosom,  or  thy 
friend,  that  is  as  thine  own  soul,  entice  thee  secretly, 
saying,  Let  us  go  and  serve  other  gods,  which  thou 
hast  not  known,  thou,  nor  thy  fathers ;  of  the  gods  of 
the  peoples  that  are  round  about  you,  nigh  unto  thee, 
or  far  off  from  thee,  from  the  one  end  of  the  earth 
even  unto  the  other  end  of  the  earth ;  thou  shalt  not 
consent  unto  him,  nor  hearken  unto  him ;  neither  shall 
thine  eye  pity  him,  neither  shalt  thou  spare,  neither 
shalt  thou  conceal  him :  but  thou  shalt  surely  kill  him ; 
thy  hand  shall  be  first  upon  him  to  put  him  to  death, 

266 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIII-4] 

and  afterwards  the  hand  of  all  the  people. — Deut.   13- 
6-9. 

Elijah  might  have  penned  those  words. 

As  the  book  brings  us  the  prophet's  message  of  devotion 
to  Jehovah,  so  it  brings  us — now  in  law,  now  in  exhortation 
—the  prophet's  message  of  devotion  to  justice  and  kindness. 
The  king  is  not  to  multiply  horses  to  himself,  nor  multiply 
wives  to  himself,  nor  greatly  multiply  to  himself  silver  and 
gold;  his  heart  is  not  to  be  lifted  up  above  his  brethren  (17: 
15-20).  "Thou  shalt  not  wrest  the  justice  due  to  the  so- 
journer, or  to  the  fatherless,  nor  take  the  widow's  raiment 
to  pledge;  but  thou  shalt  remember  that  thou  wast  a  bond- 
man in  Egypt,  and  Jehovah  thy  God  redeemed  thee  thence" 
(24:17,  18). 

It  would  be  easy  to  quote  law  after  law,  expressing  the 
prophet's  noblest  thought  of  kindness  to  the  weak,  the  poor, 
the  enslaved,  the  sojourner — yes,  to  the  beasts  of  the  field 
and  the  little  birds  of  the  air. 

The  priestly  influence  we  note  in  the  laws  regarding  fasts 
and  feasts,  regarding  those  who  may  lawfully  enter  the 
"assembly  of  Jehovah,"  and  regarding  the  treatment  of 
Levites. 

The  book  gives  us  a  vivid  picture  of  the  state  of  morals 
and  religion  at  the  time  when  it  was  promulgated  by  Josiah, 
for  the  king  evidently  regarded  the  book  as  the  very  torah, 
or  law  of  God  himself.  Both  in  morals  and  religion,  the 
teaching  of  Deuteronomy  is  defective.  There  are  laws 
which  assume  polygamy  and  slavery ;  which  forbid  the 
bastard  to  enter  the  sanctuary,  forgetful  of  the  fact  that 
"there  are  no  illegitimate  children,  but  rather  illegitimate 
parents."  There  are  laws  forbidding  certain  foreigners  to 
enter  the  temple,  laws  forbidding  Hebrews  to  exact  interest 
of  brother  Hebrews,  but  permitting  them  to  exact  interest  of 
foreigners.  Laws  there  are  which  give  definite  instructions 
as  to  the  slaughter  of  the  males  of  a  city  which  defies 
Israel.     There   is   a   law   which   forbids   the   Hebrew   to   eat 

267 


[XIII-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

of  anything  that  dieth  of  itself,  but  "thou  mayest  give  it  unto 
the  sojourner  that  is  within  thy  gates,  that  he  may  eat  it; 
or  thou  mayest  sell  it  unto  a  foreigner"  (14:21).  There 
is  a  glorious  law,  forbidding  the  children  to  be  put  to  death 
for  the  sins  of  the  parents  (24:  16),  but  another  law,  which 
commands  the  Hebrews  not  to  seek  the  peace  or  prosperity 
of  the  Ammonites  and  Moabites,  because  of  the  discourtesy 
of  their  ancestors  to  the  Israelites,  as  they  were  pressing  on 
toward  the  Promised  Land^  (23:3-6). 

Ye  shall  surely  destroy  all  the  places  wherein  the 
nations  that  ye  shall  dispossess  served  their  gods,  upon 
the  high  mountains,  and  upon  the  hills,  and  under  every 
green  tree :  and  ye  shall  break  down  their  altars,  and 
dash  in  pieces  their  pillars,  and  burn  their  Asherim 
with  fire ;  and  ye  shall  hew  down  the  graven  images 
of  their  gods ;  and  ye  shall  destroy  their  name  out  of 
that  place.  Ye  shall  not  do  so  unto  Jehovah  your  God. 
But  unto  the  place  which  Jehovah  your  God  shall 
choose  out  of  all  your  tribes,  to  put  his  name  there, 
even  unto  his  habitation  shall  ye  seek,  and  thither  thou  . 
shalt  come ;  and  thither  ye  shall  bring  your  burnt-offer- 
ings, and  your  sacrifices,  and  your  tithes,  and  the 
heave-offering  of  your  hand,  and  your  vows,  and  your 
freewill-offerings,  and  the  firstlings  of  your  herd  and 
of  your  flock :  and  there  ye  shall  eat  before  Jehovah 
your  God,  and  ye  shall  rejoice  in  all  that  ye  put  your 
hand  unto,  ye  and  your  households,  wherein  Jehovah 
thy  God  hath  blessed  thee.  Ye  shall  not  do  after  all 
the  things  that  we  do  here  this  day,  every  man  whatso- 
ever is  right  in  his  own  eyes ;  for  ye  are  not  as  yet 
come  to  the  rest  and  to  the  inheritance,  which  Jehovah 
thy  God  giveth  thee. — Deut  12 :  2-9. 

Josiah  discovered  in  the  book  certain  lav/s  which  neither 
he  nor  his  fathers  had  observed.  These  laws,  possibly  inspired 
both  by  priestly  and  prophetic  influence,  sought  first,  the 
destruction  of  all  shrines  dedicated  to  Jehovah,  outside  of 
Jerusalem  itself ;  and  consequently,  second,  the  centralization 
of  all  religious  worship  in  Jerusalem. 

The  legislation  was  obviously  drastic  in  the  extreme.     Such 

3  Bade,  "The  Old  Testament  in  the  Light  of  Today."  p.  2i8ff. 
268 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIII-5] 

sacrifices  as  Gideon  offered  in  the  olden  times,  as  Samuel 
offered  at  the  high  place  (I  Sam.  9:  14),  were  no  longer  law- 
ful. Should  Elijah  have  risen  from  the  dead,  he  could  no 
longer  make  acceptable  sacrifices  to  Jehovah  on  Mount  Car- 
mel.  Indeed,  the  newly  discovered  legislation  would  largely 
nullify  the  old  law  of  Hebrew  religious  practice:  "An  altar 
of  earth  thou  shalt  make  unto  me,  and  shalt  sacrifice  thereon 
thy  burnt-offerings,  and  thy  peace-offerings,  thy  sheep,  and 
thine  oxen :  in  every  place  where  I  cause  my  name  to  be 
remembered,  I  will  come  unto  thee  and  I  will  bless  thee" 
(Exodus   20:24). 

Was  the  legislation  warranted?  We  shall  see  the  dangers 
incident  to  its  enactment.  The  priests  of  the  baser  sort, 
serving  in  the  ancient  temple,  would  welcome  the  change 
which  would  give  them  and  their  brothers  in  Jerusalem 
the  monopoly  of  the  administration  of  organized  religion 
throughout  the  entire  kingdom. 

But  the  nobler  priests  and  the  prophetic  party  may  well 
have  cooperated  in  the  promulgation  and  enforcement  of  the 
legislation,  believing  that  by  the  destruction  of  the  local 
shrines  they  could  eliminate  every  trace  of  heathenism,  every 
trace  of  that  ''polyjahvism"  (see  p.  159),  which  was  nourished 
at  the  high  places.  They  doubtless  hoped,  too.  to  banish  from 
the  realm  the  gross  immoralities  which  had  been  consecrated 
by  their  long  association  with  the  scattered  sanctuaries. 

Thirteenth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

4.  Josiah's  Reformation 

Read  II  Kings  23,  for  brief  but  telling  narrative  of  Josiah's 
ruthless  reformation  and  tragic  death. 

Josiah's  zeal  was  not  sicklied  o'er  by  any  doubts  or  queries. 
He  began  first  to  clean  his  own  doorstep.  He  brought  out 
of  the  temple  all  of  the  vessels  that  had  been  made  for  Baal, 
and  for  all  the  host  of  heaven,  and  these  he  burned.  He 
put  down  the  idolatrous  priests,  who  fattened  on  the  sins  of 

269 


[XIIl-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

the  people.  He  drove  the  sacred  prostitutes  from  the  pre- 
cincts of  the  temple.  He  defiled  the  place  of  human  sacri- 
fice, destroyed  the  chariots  of  the  sun,  and  removed  the 
horses  dedicated  to  the  sun.  But  Jehu  himself  might  have 
gone  as  far  as  this. 

Josiah  went  further.  "He  brought  all  the  priests  out  of  the 
cities  of  Judah,  and  defiled  the  high  places  where  the  priests 
had  burned  incense"  (H  Kings  23:8).  He  went  up  to 
Bethel,  which,  even  after  the  ruin  of  the  Northern  Kingdom, 
was  a  place  of  religious  resort,  "and  the  high  place  which 
Jeroboam  the  son  of  Nebat  .  .  .  had  made,  even  that  altar 
and  the  high  place  he  brake  down"  (H  Kings  22,:  15).  He 
is  recorded  to  have  carried  his  crusade  to  various  cities  of 
Samaria,  there  to  destroy  the  high  places,  and  to  kill  "all 
the  priests  of  the  high  places  that  were  there"  (H  Kings 
23:20).  That  is,  he  aimed  to  make  impossible,  not  alone 
heathen  worship,  but  any  organized  worship  of  Jehovah  out- 
side Jerusalem  itself. 

Josiah's  reformation  was  a  dangerous  adventure  of  faith. 
As  it  ruined  hundreds  of  village  shrines,  it  cut  away  the 
trellises  upon  which  the  religious  life  of  thousands  of  people 
had  been  climbing  for  years.  It  meant  the  financial  ruin 
or  the  subordination,  the  degradation,  of  hundreds  of  village 
priests  who  had  cared  with  patient  zeal  for  their  shrines,  and 
ministered  with  real,  though  superstitious,  comradeship  to 
the  religious  life  of  the  common  people. 

Moreover,  the  new  ecclesiastical  monopoly  gained  by  the 
Jerusalem  sanctuary  may  well  have  emphasized  the  very 
tendency  to  religious  externalism  which  Amos  and  Isaiah  had 
persistently  attacked.  For  a  good  many  years  now  men  have 
tried,  and  failed,  to  achieve  personal  and  national  salvation 
by  legislation. 

But  the  God  who  makes  the  wrath  of  men  to  praise  him 
makes  also  to  praise  him  their  blunders  and  half-mistakes, 
their  purblind  struggles  to  achieve  the  divine  will,  and  their 
partial  apprehension  of  the  divine  revelation.  As  Josiah 
blasted    his    way    through    cherished    local    traditions,    super- 

270 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIII-6] 

stitions,  and  cults  of  the  Jehovah  of  Bethel  and  the  Jehovah 
of  Samaria  and  the  Jiehovah  of  this  or  that  high  place,  men 
throughout  the  realm,  with  reluctance  and  yet  with  certainty, 
rose  toward  the  conception  of  Jehovah  as  one — the  one 
leader  and  lover  of  all  the  Hebrews.  The  centralization  of 
worship  in  Jerusalem,  with  all  its  dangers,  meant  to  multi- 
tudes of  men  an  elevation  of  the  conception  of  God. 

One  day  the  ultimate  manifesto  of  true  religion  would  be 
uttered  in  Palestine :  "Neither  in  this  mountain,  nor  in  Jeru- 
salem, shall  ye  worship  the  Father.  .  .  .  The  true  wor- 
shippers, shall  worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  truth : 
for  s-uch  doth  the  Father  seek  to  be  his  worshippers"  (John 
4:21,  23).  Neither  priests  nor  people  in  Josiah's  day  would 
or  could  have  sympathized  with  that  utterance.  We  shall 
study  one  prophet  of  the  time  who  could  have  appreciated  it. 

Our  Lord  has  given  us  the  right  to  sit  in  judgment,  in  his 
spirit,  upon  every  law  of  the  Old  Testament;  but  when  every 
defect  in  the  Deuteronomic  code  has  been  pointed  out,  when 
we  have  marked  every  danger  in  its  enforcement,  we  must 
still  wonder  whether  monotheism  could  ever  have  been 
achieved  in  Judah  apart  from  this  centralization  of  worship 
in  Jerusalem.  And  the  most  cynical  observer  of  Josiah  must 
have  marked  as  the  immediate,  if  transient,  result  of  his 
reformation  a  cleansing  of  ethical  life  and  a  wider  realiza- 
tion of  uncompromising,  exclusive  Jehovah-worship. 

Thirteenth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

5.  Nahum,  "the  Doomster" 

Read  Nahum  Chapters  i  to  3  aloud,  and  imagine  yourself 
a  citizen  of  one  of  the  "little  peoples,"  victims  of  Assyria. 

Assyria  was  "the  great  besieger  of  men."  Her  last  strong 
monarch,  Ashurbanipal,  for  all  his  devotion  to  architecture 
and  literature,  was  a  brute,  who  could  tear  the  tongues  from 
defeated  foes  and  throw  their  bodies  to  the  beasts;  who 
could  leave  an  entire  land  a  smoking  ruin,  whence  had  been 

271 


[XIII-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

taken  away  "the  voice  of  men,  the  tread  of  cattle  and  sheep, 
and  the  sound  of  happy  music.  .  .  .  He  could  conquer  a  petty 
king,  and  bind  him  in  chains  like  a  dog,  and  place  him  in 
a  cage."* 

The  capital  city  of  Assyria,  Nineveh,  was  surrounded  by 
walls  said  to  be  a  hundred  feet  high  and  from  fifty  to  a 
hundred  feet  wide  at  the  base.  Through  its  streets  were 
continually  passing  captives,  the  statues  of  captured  kings 
and  gods.  Upon  its  great  walls  might  be  seen  the  flayed 
skins  of  conquered  foes.  But  like  all  bullies,  the  great  bully 
of  the  world  was  growing  flabby.  There  swept  dovwn  upon 
Nineveh  a  vast  horde  of  Manda  and  other  wild  and  vigorous 
tribesmen,  who  broke  into  the  city,  burned  the  palaces  and 
the  temples  of  the  gods,  looted  the  treasures,  and  slaughtered 
at  will. 

But  as  the  whole  world  stood  trembling  with  the  hope  of 
redemption  through  Nineveh's  destruction — a  hope  which 
seemed  too  good  to  be  true — a  contemporary  of  Zephaniah 
and  Josiah,  Nahum,  uttered  his  prophecy  of  doom. 

Vivid  are  the  pictures  of  the  last  day  of  Nineveh.  The 
onslaught  of  the  besiegers,  the  rush  of  defenders  to  the  wall, 
the  opening  of  the  watergates,  the  ruin  of  the  palace:  the 
prophet  makes  us   see  it  all. 

But  Nineveh  hath  been  from  of  old  like  a  pool  of 
water :  yet  they  fl.ee  away.  Stand,  stand,  they  cry ;  but 
none  looketh  back.  Take  ye  the  spoil  of  silver,  take 
the  spoil  of  gold ;  for  there  is  no  end  of  the  store,  the 
glory  of  all  goodly  furniture.  She  is  empty,  and  void, 
and  waste ;  and  the  heart  melteth,  and  the  knees  smite 
together,  and  anguish  is  in  all  loins,  and  the  faces  of 
them  all  are  waxed  pale.  Where  is  the  den  of  the  lions, 
and  the  feeding-place  of  the  young  lions,  where  the  lion 
and  the  lioness  walked,  the  lion's  whelp,  and  none  made 
them  afraid?  The  lion  did  tear  in  pieces  enough  for 
his  whelps,  and  strangled  for  his  lionesses,  and  filled 
his  caves  with  prey,  and  his  dens  with  ravin.  Behold, 
•    I  am  against  thee,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts,  and  I  will 


4  Rogers,  "History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,"  vol.  II,  pp.  272,  276. 
272 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIII-6] 

burn  her  chariots  in  the  smoke,  and  the  sword  shall 
devour  thy  young  lions ;  and  I  will  cut  off  thy  prey 
from  the  earth,  and  the  voice  of  thy  messengers  shall 
no  more  be  heard. 

Woe  to  the  bloody  city !  it  is  all  full  of  lies  and 
rapine ;  the  prey  departeth  not.  The  noise  of  the 
whip,  and  the  noise  of  the  rattling  of  wheels,  and 
prancing  horses,  and  bounding  chariots,  the  horseman 
mounting,  and  the  flashing  sword,  and  the  glittering 
spear,  and  a  multitude  of  slain,  and  a  great  heap  of 
corpses,  and  there  is  no  end  of  the  bodies ;  they 
stumble  upon  their  bodies ; — because  of  the  multitude  of 
the  whoredoms  of  the  well-favored  harlot,  the  mistress 
of  witchcrafts,  that  selleth  nations  through  her  whore- 
doms, and  families  through  her  witchcrafts.  Behold, 
I  am  against  thee,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts,  and  I  will 
iincover  thy  skirts  upon  thy  face ;  and  I  will  show  the 
nations  thy  nakedness,  and  the  kingdoms  thy  shame. 
And  I  will  cast  abominable  filth  upon  thee,  and  make 
thee  vile,  and  will  set  thee  as  a  gazing-stock.  And 
it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  all  they  that  look  upon 
thee  shall  flee  from  thee,  and  say,  Nineveh  is  laid 
waste :  who  will  bemoan  her  ?  whence  shall  I  seek  com- 
forters  for  thee  ? — Nahum  2:8-3:  7. 

We  see  the  laborers  scurry  about,  too  late,  to  work  up  the 
clay  into  brick,  to  strengthen  the  forts;  but  Nineveh  is  like 
a  pool  of  water.  "Stand,  stand,  they  cry;  but  none  looketh 
back." 

The  merchants  and  great  ones,  who  have  settled  like 
locusts  upon  the  capital,  now  fly  away  in  the  hour  of  her 
peril.  Then  comes  the  swift  plunder  of  the  city.  Yet, 
"Who  will  bemoan  her?  Whence  shall  I  seek  comforters  for 
thee?"  "Behold,  I  am  against  thee,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts." 
With  a  last  word  of  taunting  triumph,  the  prophet  cries: 
"There  is  no  assuaging  of  thy  hurt;  Thy  wound  is  grievous; 
all  that  hear  the  report  of  thee  clap  their  hands  over  thee" 
(3:19).      The    city's    ruin    is    the    world's    rejoicing. 

"Of  all  the  prophets,"  says  a  writer,  "Nahum  is  the  one 
who  in  dignity  and  force  most  nearly  approaches  Isaiah." 
Even  the  most  casual  reader  must  be  fascinated  by  the 
closely  knit  sentences,  the   swiftly   drawn,   cartoon-like   pic- 

2.72 


[XIII-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

tures — "thy  fortresses,  fig-trees";  "thy  warriors,  women"; 
"thy  princes,  locusts" ;  Nineveh,  "the  den  of  Hons,  where 
the  lion  and  the  lioness  walked,  the  lion's  whelp,  and  none 
made   them   afraid"    (2:11). 

It  is  easy  to  discover  defects  in  Nahum.  He  has  no 
word  of  divine  forgiveness.  "Nahum's  heart,  for  all  its 
bigness,  holds  room  only  for  the  bitterness,  the  baffled 
hopes,  the  unappeased  hatreds  of  a  hundred  years."  He 
is  the  first  prophet,  whose  words  we  have  studied,  who  has 
no  ringing  denunciation  of  the  sinners  in  Jerusalem ;  but 
it  may  be  well  answered  that  he  had  no  cause  in  his  brief 
oracle  to  dwell  upon  the  sins  of  his  own  people.  We  do 
find  in  him  a  comradeship  with  all  the  oppressed  of  earth, 
the  little,  beaten,  "battle-torn"  peoples.  The  motto  of  the 
Cosmopolitan  Club  reaches  beyond,  but  would  not  be  foreign 
to  his  thought :  "Above  all  nations,  humanity."  As  one 
reads  Nahum,  one  is  reminded  of  "The  Recessional,"  in 
which  Kipling,  as  well  as  any  modern,  gives  us  Nahum's 
message  to  a  proud,  materialistic,  Nineveh-like  civilization. 

"Far-called,   our   navies   melt   away — 

On  dune  and  headland  sinks  the  fire — 
Lo,  all  our  pomp  of  yesterday 

Is  one  with  Nineveh  and  Tyre ! 
Judge  of  the  Nations,  spare  us  yet. 
Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget! 

If  drunk  with  sight  of  power,  we  loose 
Wild  tongues  that  have  not  Thee  in  awe — 

Such  boastings  as   the   Gentiles   use, 
Or   lesser  breeds   without   the   Law — 

Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet. 

Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget! 

For  heathen  heart  that  puts  her  trust 

In    reeking   tube   and   iron   shard — 
All   valiant   dust  that  builds  on   dust. 

And  guarding,  calls  not  Thee  to  guard — 
For   frantic  boast  and   foolish  word. 
Thy  Mercy  on  Thy   People,   Lord!" 

274 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIII-7] 

The  message  is  this :  Sin  is  suicide.  The  people  who 
build  their  civilization  on  lies  and  lechery  and  cruelty  will 
be  destroyed.  God  and  his  universe  are  against  them.  The 
message  is  not  new,  but  it  is  a  superb  emphasis  upon  truths 
which  Isaiah  elaborated,  when  he  said,  "The  Egyptians  are 
men,  and  not  God ;  and  their  horses  flesh,  and  not  spirit.  .  .  . 
He  also  is  wise"  (Isa.  31:3,  2).  The  new  thing  in  Nahum 
is  really  the  absence  of  an  old  thing,  the  absence  of  the 
customary  prophetic  word  against  Israel's  sin.  The  absence 
may  mean  the  entrance  into  prophecy  of  a  new  and  unfortu- 
nate temper. 

Thirteenth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

6.  The  Mourning  of  Megiddo,  and  Battles  Which 
Changed  the  World 

Not  far  from  the  date  of  Nahum's  prophecy,  while  Assyria 
was  still  struggling  for  life,  there  occurred  one  of  the  most 
tragic  events  of  Judah's  history.  A  period  of  sunshine  had 
followed  the  rigorous  reformation  of  621  B.  C.  Pharaoh 
Necho  II  was  rising  to  power  in  Egypt.  He  began  and 
perhaps  completed  a  canal  connecting  Goshen  with  the  Red 
Sea,  another  early  "Suez  Canal"  (see  p.  39).  He  also  sent 
an  expedition  to  circumnavigate  Africa.  This  ambitious  and 
enterprising  monarch  saw  his  opportunity  to  wrest  from  the 
old  and  toothless  giant  Assyria  certain  desirable  Syrian 
possessions.  Josiah  with  his  little  highland  army  went  out 
to   intercept  him. 

Now  the  rest  of  the  acts  of  Josiah,  and  all  that  he 
did,  are  they  not  written  in  the  book  of  the  chronicles 
of  the  kings  of  Judah?  In  his  days  Pharaoh-necoh 
king  of  Egypt  went  up  against  the  king  of  Assyria  to 
the  river  Euphrates  :  and  king  Josiah  went  against  him ; 
and  Pharaoh-necoh  slew  him  at  Megiddo,  when  he  had 
seen  him.  And  his  servants  carried  him  in  a  chariot 
dead  from  Megiddo,  and  brought  him  to  Jerusalem,  and 
buried  him  in  his  own  sepulchre.   And  the  people  of  the 

275 


[XIII-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

land  took  Jehoahaz  the  son  of  Josiah,  and  anointed 
him,  and  made  him  king  in  his  father's  stead. — II  Kings 
23 :  28-30. 

According  to  the  chronicler,  Necho  sought  to  dissuade 
Josiah  from  his  untimely  interference.  But  Josiah  would 
not  be  dissuaded.  What  reason  actuated  him  we  do  not 
know.  Did  he  wish  to  retain  the  favor  of  his  overlord, 
Assyria?  Did  he  wish  to  avoid  dangerous  Egyptian  influ- 
ence to  the  north?  Or  was  he  actuated  by  a  literalistic 
confidence  in  his  precious  book  of  Deuteronomy,  which  had 
guided  him  in  his  reformation  ?  Certainly  the  book  made  to 
the  faithful  very  definite  and  glorious  promises  of  victory, 
victory  entirely  unconditioned  by  the  numbers  of  the  enemy. 
Josiah  may  have  yielded  to  the  temptation  which  Jesus  in  the 
later  days  resisted:  to  put  to  trial  the  Lord  his  God. 

At  Megiddo  Josiah  and  the  Pharaoh  joined  battle.  Josiah 
was  killed,  his  little  army  fled  in  confusion,  and  "the  mourn- 
ing of  Megiddo"  became  a  sorrowful  tradition.  From  this 
time  on  "the  suffering  of  the  righteous  became  the  problem 
of  the  wise." 

Josiah's  son,  Jehoahaz,  or  Shallum,  reigned  for  a  hundred 
days,  and  was  then  taken  away  in  chains  by  Necho,  and 
carried  off  to  Egypt    Jeremiah  speaks  pathetically  of  him : 

Weep  ye  not  for  the  dead,  neither  bemoan  him ; 
but  weep  sore  for  him  that  goeth  away;  for  he  shall 
return  no  more,  nor  see  his  native  country.  For  thus 
saith  Jehovah  touching  Shallum  the  son  of  Josiah, 
king  of  Judah,  who  reigned  instead  of  Josiah  his  father, 
and  who  went  forth  out  of  this  place :  He  shall  not 
return  thither  any  more ;  but  in  the  place  whither  they 
have  led  him  captive,  there  shall  he  die,  and  he  shall 
see  this  land  no  more. — Jer.  22 :  10-12. 

Necho  then  placed  upon  the  throne  of  Judah  one  of  the 
most  contemptible  men  who  ever  sat  upon  any  throne,  and 
gave  to  him  a  name  which  would  have  shamed  the  sin  of 
any  man,  not  already  shameless — the  name  Jehoiakim  (Je- 
hovah raiseth  up).     He  was  the  son  of  Josiah,  but  as  the 

276 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIII-7] 

old  narrative  would  say,  "walked  not  in  his  way."  Apparently 
the  new  king  decided  that  Jehovah  had  not  played  fair,  had 
deserted  his  father.  "Be  good,  and  you  will  be  happy" — 
was  not  that  the  supreme  teaching  of  all  the  prophets?  Sin 
means  suffering,  piety  means  prosperity.  Now  comes  the 
death  of  his  good  father  at  Megiddo,  with  its  staggering 
instruction,  "Be  good  and  you'll  be  killed."  Jehoiakim  con- 
cluded to  desert  Jehovah,  or  at  any  rate  to  discipline  him 
by  subordinating  him  as  Manasseh  had  done  in  earlier  days. 
The  new  king  restored  all  the  old  heathen  abominations  in 
Jerusalem,  taxed  unmercifully  the  people  of  the  land  that 
he  might  pay  the  fine  imposed  by  Necho  his  lord  and  master, 
and  while  his  country  was  perishing  gave  himself  to  luxury. 
To  idolatry  and  oppression  he  added  murder,  killed  at  least 
one  prophet,  Uriah,  and  threatened  the  death  of  a  greater, 
Jeremiah.  But  meanwhile  the  world  had  come  to  "the  end 
of  an  era." 

After  killing  Josiah  and  defeating  his  army  (608  B.  C), 
Necho  laid  much  of  the  land  west  of  the  Euphrates  under 
tribute.  Nahum's  doom  upon  Nineveh  was  fulfilled.  The 
mighty  empire  of  Assyria  which  had  ruled  and  ruined  for 
centuries  passed  with  its  capital  city.  Rogers  tells  us  that 
"in  401  B.  C.  a  cultivated  Greek  [Xenophon]  leading  home- 
ward the  fragment  of  his  gallant  army  of  ten  thousand  men 
passed  by  the  mounds  [of  the  city  of  Nineveh]  and  never 
knew  that  beneath  them  lay  the  palaces  of  the  great  Assyrian 
kings." 

Up  from  the  region  about  the  Persian  Gulf  there  had 
pushed  into  the  ancient  land  of  Babylonia  a  strong  and 
virile  Semitic  race,  the  Chaldeans.  They  needed  only  the 
effective  leadership  of  Nabopolassar  to  make  them  dominant 
in  the  old  capital,  Babylon  itself.  So  long  as  Assyria  held 
out  Nabopolassar  played  well  the  game  of  politics,  and  acted 
as  appointee  of  the  Assyrian  king.  But  when  Nineveh 
perished  the  Chaldeans  fell  heir  to  the  glory  that  was  As- 
syria. Necho  II  thought  that  Nabopolassar  might  be  an 
easy  victim,  and  that  Egypt  might  well  extend   still   further 

277 


[XIII-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

her  conquests.  Nebuchadrezzar,  the  son  of  the  Chaldean 
king,  met  Necho  at  the  decisive  battle  of  Carchemish  on 
the  Euphrates,  605-4  B.  C.  Necho  was  defeated ;  and  the 
writer  of  II  Kings  quaintly  remarks :  "And  the  king  of 
Egypt  came  not  again  any  more  out  of  his  land ;  for  the 
king  of  Babylon  had  taken,  from  the  brook  of  Egypt  unto 
the  river  Euphrates,  all  that  pertained  to  the  king  of  Egypt" 

(24:7). 

The  battle  of  Carchemish  is  one  of  the  turning-points  of 
history.  The  prophetic  party  in  Judah  saw  clearly  that  the 
survival  and  security  of  the  kingdom  must  be  bought  by 
absolute  submission  to  the  Chaldeans.  Hope  from  Egypt 
there  was  none.  Pharaoh  Necho  had  no  further  disposition 
to  war  with  Nebuchadrezzar.  But  for  the  death  of  his 
father,  the  prince  of  the  Chaldeans  would  have  swept  as 
conqueror  into  Egypt  (see  Jer.  46).  As  Jehoiakim  had  paid 
tribute  to  Necho,  he  must  now  pay  tribute  to  Nebuchadrezzar, 
the  conqueror  of  his  master. 

We  sing  so  often  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  with  her  golden 
streets,  her  sea  of  glass,  her  harps,  her  crowns,  her  tree 
of  life,  her  peace,  that  we  fail  to  grasp  the  actualities 
of  the  old  Jerusalem.  News  traveled  very  swiftly  in  the 
Orient.  Stragglers  from  the  battle  of  Megiddo  came  stream- 
ing into  the  city.  The  body  of  Josiah  was  borne  through 
the  streets.  Then  followed  days  of  mourning.  There  came 
the  speedy  dethronement  of  the  new  king,  the  accession  of 
Jehoiakim,  appointee  of  Egypt ;  then  came  the  grievous  tribute, 
to  be  paid  by  the  people ;  then  followed  the  news  of  the 
fall  of  Nineveh,  and  Jerusalem  joined  in  the  universal 
hand-clapping.  Swiftly  followed  the  staggering  news  of  the 
whipped  army  of  Necho  scurrying  back  to  Egypt,  Nebuchad- 
rezzar at  its  heels,  Hopes,  fears,  agonies,  the  tragic  poverty 
of  the  masses  and  the  callous,  cruel  luxury  of  the  few — 
this  was  the  experience  of  Jerusalem.  Such  were  the  facts 
which  the  religious  man  of  Judah  must  face.  We  study  in 
the  book  of  Habakkuk  the  message  of  one  of  the  few  men 
who  faced  the  facts. 

278 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-i] 

Fourteenth  Week,  First  Day. 

7.  Habakkuk,  the  Skeptic-Prophet 

Read  Hab.,  Chapters  i  and  2,  to  see  how  the  problem  of 
pain  and  injustice  forced  itself  upon  the  prophet,  and  how 
God  helped  him  toivard  the  solution. 

a.  The  Prophet's  Question. 

The  normal  speech  of  the  prophet  is  this:  "Thus  saith 
Jehovah."  But  apparently  in  the  early  days  of  Jehoiakim, 
in  that  momentous  last  decade  of  the  seventh  century,  there 
arose  a  prophet  who  spoke  in  a  different  voice  and  dared 
to  ask  the  question,  which  the  book  of  Job  would  later 
express  in  words  of  external  beauty,  the  age-long  question, 
"Why?"  If  Jehovah  knows,  if  Jehovah  cares,  if  Jehovah  is 
strong,  why  does  he  permit  the  suffering  of  the  righteous? 
Habakkuk  puts  the  matter  thus : 

O  Jehovah,  how  long  shall  I  cry,  and  thou  wilt  not 
hear?  I  cry  out  unto  thee  of  violence,  and  thou  wilt 
not  save.  Why  dost  thou  show  me  iniquity,  and  look 
upon  perverseness?  for  destruction  and  violence  are 
before  me ;  and  there  is  strife,  and  contention  riseth  up. 
Therefore  the  law  is  slacked,  and  justice  doth  never 
go  forth ;  for  the  wicked  doth  compass  about  the  right- 
eous;  therefore  justice  goeth  forth  perverted. — Hab.  i: 
2-4. 

Out  of  the  agony  of  his  heart  the  prophet  cries  to  his  God, 
because  he  sees  violence,  iniquity,  perverseness,  destruction, 
strife,  contention,  the  law  paralyzed,  justice  perverted;,  and 
Jehovah  seeing  but  saving  not,  hearing  not.  Hosea  in  his 
day,  and  Isaiah  in  his  day,  had  seen  and  suffered  like  things; 
but  they  knew  that  Jehovah  was  already  preparing  his  in- 
strument of  punishment.  Habakkuk  at  first  fails  to  see  the 
operation  of  Jehovah's  hand. 

Who  then  were  the  oppressors,  whose  unhindered  activities 
stirred  the  prophet's  skepticism?  Probably  the  sinners  in 
Jerusalem  who,  in  accordance  with  the  good  old-fashioned 

279 


[XIV-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

plan,  took  because  they  had  the  power  and  kept  because  they 
could.  After  the  death  of  Josiah,  these  men  probably  made 
"human  life  a  hell"  at  least  for  the  devotees  of  Jehovah. 

b.  Jehovah's  Answer. 

But  the  divine  answer  comes  back  to  the  prophet's  agonized 
question : 

Behold  ye  among  the  nations,  and  look,  and  wonder 
marvellously ;  for  I  am  working  a  work  in  your  days, 
which  ye  will  not  believe  though  it  be  told  you.  For, 
lo,  I  raise  up  the  Chaldeans,  that  bitter  and  hasty 
nation,  that  march  through  the  breadth  of  the  earth, 
to  possess  dwelling-places  that  are  not  theirs.  They 
are  terrible  and  dreadful;  their  judgment  and  their 
dignity  proceed  from  themselves.  Their  horses  also 
are  swifter  than  leopards,  and  are  more  fierce  than 
the  evening  wolves;  and  their  horsemen  press  proudly 
on :  yea,  their  horsemen  come  from  far ;  they  fly  as  an 
eagle  that  hasteth  to  devour.  They  come  all  of  them 
for  violence ;  the  set  of  their  faces  is  forwards ;  and 
they  gather  captives  as  the  sand.  Yea,  he  scoffeth  at 
kings,  and  princes  are  a  derision  unto  him;  he  derideth 
every  stronghold ;  for  he  heapeth  up  dust,  and  taketh 
it. — Hab.   1 :  5-10. 

"Then  his  purpose  changeth  and  he  passeth  along,  and  he 
setteth  up  his  altar"  (i:ii).^ 

The  prophet  gets  his  answer.  As  Amos,  Hosea,  Isaiah, 
and  Micah  had  all  seen  the  Assyrian  as  the  instrument  of 
Jehovah's  judgment  upon  the  sinners  of  Israel;  as  Zephaniah 
had  heard  the  coming  of  the  Scythian  horsemen,  the  execu- 
tioners of  Jehovah;  so  our  prophet  seems  to  find  in  the 
Chaldeans  the  rod  in  the  hand  of  Jehovah  which  shall 
punish  the  wicked  in  Jerusalem,  who  compass  about  the 
righteous.  So  far,  then,  we  have  no  new  contribution  to 
prophetic  thought. 

c.  The  Harder  Problem. 

But  in  the  later  days,  when  the  Chaldeans  were  showing 


^  Translation  by  Ward,  Int.  Com.  Habakkuk,  p.  9. 
280 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-i] 

the  brutality  of  their  natures,  the  first  answer  which  the 
prophet  received  must  have  raised  another  question  in  his 
own  mind,  or  in  the  mind  of  one  who  shared  his  spirit 
and  his  problem.     The  question  is  this : 

Thou  that  art  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  evil,  and 
that  canst  not  look  on  perverseness,  wherefore  lookest 
thou  upon  them  that  deal  treacherously,  and  holdest 
thy  peace  when  the  wicked  swalloweth  up  the  man 
that  is  more  righteous  than  he ;  and  makest  men  as  the 
fishes  of  the  sea,  as  the  creeping  things,  that  have  no 
ruler  over  them?  He  taketh  up  all  of  them  with  the 
angle,  he  catcheth  them  in  his  net,  and  gathereth  them 
in  his  drag:  therefore  he  rejoiceth  and  is  glad.  There- 
fore he  sacrificeth  unto  his  net,  and  burneth  incense 
unto  his  drag;  because  by  them  his  portion  is  fat,  and 
his  food  plenteous.  Shall  he  therefore  empty  his  net, 
and  spare  not  to  slay  the  nations  continually? — Hab. 
1 :  13-17. 

The  Chaldeans  themselves  are  cruel,  treacherous,  indis- 
criminate. They  treat  men — yes,  good  men — just  as  the 
fishes  of  the  sea,  as  the  creeping  things  that  have  no  ruler 
over  them.  They  sacrifice  to  their  own  net,  burn  incense 
to  their  own  drag.  "Shall  he  therefore  empty  his  net,  and 
spare  not  to  slay  the  nations  continually?"  These  Chaldeans 
were  to  be  Jehovah's  instrument  to  destroy  the  wicked  and 
deliver  the  righteous.  But  militarists,  they  worship  their 
army  and  sacrifice  good  and  bad  alike.  Mark  how  the  man 
tries  to  hold  his  faith  in  God,  yet  is  too  honest  to  evade 
life's  dreadful  facts.  So  long  as  you  worship  Baal,  im- 
pulsive, lawless,  so  long  suffering  offers  no  problem.  Baal 
can  do  as  he  likes.  So  Caliban's  deity  provokes  no  moral 
problem : 

"He  is  strong  and  Lord. 
'Am  strong  myself  compared  to  yonder  crabs 
That  march  now  from  the  mountain  to  the  sea; 
'Let  twenty  pass,  and  stone  the  twenty-first, 
Loving  not,  hating  not.  just  choosing  so. 
'Say,  the  first  straggler  that  boasts  purple  spots 
Shall  join  the  file,  one  pincer  twisted  off; 

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'Say,  this  bruised  fellow  shall  receive  a  worm, 
And  two  worms  he  whose  nippers  end  in  red: 
As  it  likes  me  each  time,  I  do :  so  He." 

But  as  soon  as  your  God  reveals  himself  loving  and  wise 
and  strong,  so  soon  does  the  problem  of  pain  become  poign- 
ant, terrible.     Surely 

"nothing  can  be  good  in  Him 
Which  evil  is  in  me." 

And  yet,  and  yet,  if  he  is  strong,  and  good,  and  wise, 
why?    Why? 

Now  what  will  the  brave  man  do  with  his  problem? 

"I  will  stand  upon  my  post, 
And  station  myself  on  a  tower. 

And  I  will  look  forth  to  see  what  he  will  say  to  me, 
And  what  answer  he  will  return  to  my  complaint."^ 

Fourteenth  Week,  Second  Day. 

d.  The  Divine  Solution. 

The  prophet's  problem  faces  all  men  of  good  will.  One 
man  slinks  away  with  this  solution,  no  solution :  "God  is  un- 
just, the  universe  a  lie."  Another  man  acquiesces  in  the 
fool's  dogmatism  which  declares,  "There  is  no  God."  Our 
prophet  is  rather  like  the  operator  at  a  wireless  telegraph 
station.  Out  on  his  desolate  promontory,  alone,  he  sends 
his  message  across  the  night  and  the  sea.  He  looks  forth, 
sees  nothing;  listens,  hears  nothing.  But  he  is  ready,  alert, 
has  his  apparatus  tuned  and  in  order,  sure  that  if  he  will  but 
wait  for  it  the  answer  will  come. 

"What  do  you  know?"  "Not  much."  "What  do  you 
know?"  "Well,  I  know  what  Robertson  in  his  darkest  hour 
knew,  'that  it  is  better  to  be  generous  than  selfish,  better  to 
be  chaste  than  licentious,  better  to  be  true  than  false,  better 
to  be  brave  than  to  be  a  coward.'  "    Good  1     Start  there ;  stand 

"  Hab.  2:1,  translation  by  Ward. 

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POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-2] 

upon  the  post  of  the  truth  you  know,  station  yourself  upon 
the   tower  of   the  duty  you  know.     The   eager,   patient,  ex- 
pectant man  shall  get  an  answer  to  his  complaint. 
But  what  answer  does   the  prophet  get? 

And  Jehovah  answered  me,  and  said.  Write  the 
vision,  and  make  it  plain  upon  tablets,  that  he  may 
run  that  readeth  it.  For  the  vision  is  yet  for  the 
appointed  time,  and  it  hasteth  toward  the  end,  and 
shall  not  lie:  though  it  tarry,  wait  for  it;  because  it 
will  surely  come,  it  will  not  delay. 

Behold,  his  soul  is  puffed  up,  it  is  not  upright  in 
him:  but  the  righteous  shall  live  by  his  faith. — Hab. 
2 : 2-4. 

Unfortunately  the  lines  are  not  easily  translated.  It  has 
been  suggested  that  we  should  read  them : 

"The  upright  shall  rest  his  soul  in  me. 
And  the  righteous  shall  live  by  my   faithfulness." 

But  with  our  present  reading,  the  meaning  is  reasonably 
clear.  The  destiny  of  a  man  and  of  a  nation  is  determined 
by  character.  The  soul  of  the  wicked  "is  not  upright  in 
him,"  it  has  the  seeds  of  decay  within  itself,  while  the  soul 
of  the  righteous  has  the  seeds  of  life  within  itself.  "The 
wild  excesses  of  the  tyrant  carry  within  them  the  germ  of 
certain  ruin,  the  faithfulness  of  the  righteous  will  be  to  him 
a  principle  of   life." 

In  Rom.  1:17.  and  again  in  Gal.  3:11,  Paul  quotes  this 
passage,  as  he  found  it  in  the  Greek  or  Septuagint  version 
(see  p.  5)  :  "The  righteous  shall  live  by  faith."  It  has 
been  said  that  faith,  the  characteristic  virtue  of  the  New 
Testament,  is  the  root  of  the  faithfulness  which  is  the 
characteristic  virtue  of  the  Old.  It  was  this  quotation  which, 
as  Luther  read  it  in  Paul's  writings,  strengthened  his  heart 
t©  strike  the  fetters  of  Rome  from  his  manhood.  Clearly 
the  words  are  not  a  complete  answer  to  the  prophet's  ques- 
tion. It  was  God's  own  partial  answer,  and  God  has  never 
yet  given  to  human  understanding  a  complete  answer. 

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[XIV -2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

For  a  further  discussion  of  the  problem  of  pain,  we  must 
wait  for  our  consideration  of  the  book  of  Job.  Meanwhile 
we  do  well  to  recall  the  word  of  a  writer  who  has  himself 
suffered  much:  "We  very  jauntily  solve  the  problem  of 
sorrow  till  our  hearts  are  broken.  Then  we  discover  that 
to  handle  certain  questions  is  to  handle  naked  swords." 

The  remainder  of  our  present  book  of  Habakkuk  is  a 
compilation.  The  five  Woes  of  Chapter  2  need  not  detain 
us.  In  Chapter  3  we  have  a  psalm  in  which  the  writer  prays 
that  Jehovah  will  revive  his  work  "in  the  midst  of  the 
years,"  the  sad,  dry,  barren,  meaningless  j^ears.  There  fol- 
lows the  description  of  a  glorious  theophany,  or  manifesta- 
tion of  Jehovah,  surpassing  that  of  the  Exodus.  With  the 
last  verses  comes  a  message  which  may  well  serve  as  the 
fitting  crown  of  the  brave  little  book: 

For  though  the  fig-tree  shall  not  flourish, 

Neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines ; 

The  labor  of  the  olive  shall  fail, 

And  the  fields  shall  yield  no  food ; 

The  flock  shall  be  cut  off  from  the  fold, 

And  there  shall  be  no  herd  in  the  stalls : 

Yet  I  will  rejoice  in  Jehovah, 

I  will  joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation. 

Jehovah,  the  Lord,  is  my  strength ; 

And  he  maketh  my  feet  like  hinds'  feet, 

And  will  make  me  to  walk  upon  my  high  places. 

— Hab.   3  :  17-19. 

The  words  breathe  the  majestic  faith  of  a  day  probably 
much  later  than  the  seventh  century,  a  faith  which  refused 
to  believe  that  empty  barns  and  barren  trees  were  always 
God's  punishment;  which  refused  to  see  in  all  pain  God's 
direct  penalty  for  sin.  Paul  could  go  no  further  than  these 
great  words,  but  he  knew  more.  Christ  had  shined  upon 
him,  and  he  could  write :  "I  am  persuaded,  that  neithef 
death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  things 
present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  powers,  nor  height,  nor 
depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us 

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POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-3] 

from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord" 
(Rom.  8:38,  39). 

We  shall  remember  the  book  of  Habakkuk  as  giving  us 
a  noble  treatment  of  the  crucial  problem  of  all  religion. 
We  shall  think  of  it  as  giving  us  two  answers  to  the 
problem.  The  first  answer  is  familiar  to  us :  Outward  pun- 
ishment will  befall  oppressors,  rescue  will  come  to  the 
righteous.  The  second  answer  is  new  only  in  emphasis. 
Amos  had  said,  "Seek  God,  seek  good,  and  live."  Habak- 
kuk says,  "The  righteous  shall  live  by  his  faithfulness." 
One  loves  the  man  who  believed  in  his  God  so  much  that 
he  dared  to  ask  Jehovah,  as  a  child  would  dare  to  ask  his 
father.  "Why?" 

"He   fought  his  doubts  and  gather'd  strength. 
He  would  not  make  his  judgment  blind, 
He  faced  the  spectres  of  the  mind 
And  laid  them :  thus  he  came  at  length 

To  find  a  stronger  faith  his  own; 

And  Power  was  with  him  in  the  night. 
Which  makes  the  darkness  and  the  light, 

And  dwells  not  m  the  light  alone." 

Fourteenth  Week,  Third  Day. 

8.   Jeremiah,    Prophet   of   the   Religion    of   the 
Inner  Life 

A  recent  news  item  states  that  "the  moving  picture  has 
acquired  a  sudden  and  enormous  popularity  in  Jerusalem, 
particularly  among  the  native  population.  ...  It  is  impossible 
to  accommodate  the  crowds  that  try  to  attend  the  theaters. 
People  almost  fought  to  get  into  a  big  theater  when  the 
film    depicting    the    occupation    of    Beersheba    was    shown."^ 

It  is  strange  to  send  one's  thoughts  across  the  Atlantic  and 
the  Mediterranean,  over  the  railroad  from  Jaffa,  through 
the  ancient  gates  and  into  the  ancient  streets  of  Jerusalem, 
there  to  watch  Turks  and  "Tommies,"  Armenians,  Russians, 


7  New  York  Times,  July  3.  I9i8. 

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[XIV-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Egyptians,  Jews,  squabbling  and  fraternizing  in  front  of  a 
moving-picture  show.  But  that  adventure  of  the  mind 
makes  it  perhaps  easier  for  one  to  think  back  into  the  last 
days  of  the  seventh  century  in  Jerusalem.  Then  the  "sun- 
proof alleys"  were  filled  with  the  poor;  the  narrow  streets 
were  crowded  with  merchants  from  Phoenicia,  with  soldiers 
— first  from  Assyria,  then  from  Egypt,  then  from  Babylon. 
Pilgrims,  "their  faces  aflame  with  fierce  ecstasy,"  made 
their  way  to  the  ancient  temple  of  Solomon,  now  cleansed 
and  beautified  by  Josiah,  glorified  by  the  laws  of  Deute- 
ronomy, only  to  be  desecrated  again  by  heathen  accessories. 

We  have  studied  the  words  of  one  brave  and  gentle  man 
who  faced  the  facts  of  the  time.  We  trust  that  Habakkuk 
was  the  friend  of  the  man  whom  we  now  study,  another  who 
faced  the  facts.  This  man,  Jeremiah,  has  been  called  by 
one  writer  "the  greatest  of  the  prophets,"  by  another  writer, 
"the  first  great  heretic." 

Let  us  look  at  the  man  himself. 

Read  Jer.  i,  2,  and  12,  or,  rather,  the  first  twelve  chapters. 
How  much  would  you  give  to  be  permitted  to  sit  for 
forty-five  minutes  with  the  greatest  prophet  of  the  Old 
Testament?  It  won't  cost  you  anything.  The  prophet 
in  these  chapters  reveals  his  very  heart. 

a.  The  Prophet  at  Prayer, 

In  the  year  of  the  Scythian  invasion,  which  stirred  to  flame 
the  prophetic  spirit  of  Zephaniah,  Jeremiah,  in  his  com- 
munion with  Jehovah,  saw  his  vision  and  heard  his  call. 
He  regarded  himself  as  "a  very  young  man" ;  but  he  knew 
in  that  hour  that  for  the  truth  he  needs  must  think  he 
would  have  to  choose  "hatred,  scoffing,  and  abuse."  As  he 
reflected  in  the  after-time  upon  that  vision,  he  realized  what 
it  meant: 

(i)   That  his  prophethood  had  been  Jehovah's   long   plan. 

(2)  That  the  sphere  of  his  prophethood  was  not  alone 
Jerusalem,  but  "the  nations." 

286 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-3] 

(3)  That  as  a  herald  identifies  his  task  with  that  of  his 
king,  he  was  "to  destroy  and  restore  nations." 

The  prayers  of  Jeremiah  are  singularly  rich  in  self-revela- 
tion. They  are  dialogues  with  his  God.  He  argues  with  Je- 
hovah, curses  the  day  of  his  birth,  laments  that  he  is  a  man 
held  in  contempt  by  his  friends.     But  he  surrenders  to  God. 

O  Jehovah,  thou  hast  persuaded  me,  and  I  was  per- 
suaded ;  thou  art  stronger  than  I,  and  hast  prevailed : 
I  am  become  a  laughing-stock  all  the  day,  every  one 
mocketh  me.  For  as  often  as  I  speak,  I  cry  out;  I 
cry.  Violence  and  destruction!  because  the  word  of 
Jehovah  is  made  a  reproach  unto  me,  and  a  derision, 
all  the  day.  And  if  I  say,  I  will  not  make  mention  of 
him,  nor  speak  any  more  in  his  name,  then  there  is  in 
my  heart  as  it  were  a  burning  fire  shut  up  in  my 
bones,  and  I  am  weary  with  forbearing,  and  I  cannot 
contain. — Jer.  20  :  7-9. 

In  a  wonderful  passage  (12:1-5),  we  hear  the  prophet 
pleading  in  words  which  remind  us  of  Habakkuk:  "Right- 
eous art  thou,  O  Jehovah,  when  I  contend  with  thee;  yet 
would  I  reason  the  cause  with  thee :  wherefore  doth  the 
way  of  the  wicked  prosper?  wherefore  are  all  they  at  ease 
that  deal  very  treacherously?  .  .  .  thou  art  near  in  their 
mouth,    and    far    from    their    heart"    (12:1,    2). 

Jeremiah  prays  that  Jehovah  will  pull  these  men  out  as 
sheep  for  the  slaughter.     But  he  hears  Jehovah's  answer : 

"If  thou  hast  run  with  footmen,  and  they  have  wearied 
thee,  then  how  wilt  thou  vie  with  horses?  and  if  in  a  land 
of  peace  thou  takest  to  flight,  hovv^  wilt  thou  do  in  the  pride 
of  Jordan?  (The  rank  luxuriant  growth  of  bushes  and 
thick  vegetation  fringing  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  infested 
by  lions,  and  dangerous  to  enter.)"'' 

When  we  would  strengthen  people  for  a  dreaded  task,  we 
are  wont  to  tell  them  that,  though  weeping  may  endure  for 
a  night,  joy  cometh  in  the  morning.  We  delight  to  tell  them 
that  in  the  blessed  "Afterward"  the  light  affliction  worketh 

s  Jer.  12:  5,  as  translated  by  Driver. 

287 


[XIV-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

more  and  more  exceedingly  an  eternal  weight  of  glory. 
And  this  is  all  well ;  but  no  such  comfort  does  the  prophet 
get.  His  God  speaks  to  him — and  we  wonder  whether  he 
does  not  speak  in  like  manner  to  his  bravest  men — "You 
are  wearied  when  you  race  with  footmen;  what  will  you 
do  when  you  compete  with  horses?  Are  you  taking  to  flight 
in  a  land  of  peace?  One  day  you  will  have  to  enter  the 
perils  of  'the  pride  of  Jordan.' "  He  hears  Jehovah  speak 
to  him  neither  of  flowery  beds  of  ease,  nor  yet  of  skies  and 
crowns ;  but  of  sterner,  harder,  more  agonizing  work  for 
his  Lord. 

A  sensitive,  affectionate  man,  he  is  to  have  no  wife,  no 
children  (16:2).  A  man  who  probably  has  been  prosperous, 
with  money  or  property  enough  to  live  a  life  of  cultured  ease, 
he  is  to  be  hounded  by  imprisonment  and  near-starvation. 
A  man  of  purest  patriotism,  he  must  be  the  hiss  and  by- 
word of  king,  priest,  prophet,  populace,  whose  shibboleths 
he  may  not  utter,  and  whose  hopes  he  may  not  cherish. 
But  this   sufficing  comfort  the   man   gets : 

"If  thou  return  [from  despair  and  distrust],  then  will  I 
bring  thee  again,  that  thou  mayest  stand  before  me ;  and 
if  thou  take  forth  the  precious  from  the  vile  ['what  is 
pure  and  divine  within  thee  from  the  slag  of  earthly  passion 
and  weakness'],  thou  shalt  be  as  my  mouth.  .  .  .  And  I 
will  make  thee  unto  this  people  a  fortified  brazen  wall ; 
and  they  shall  fight  against  thee,  but  they  shall  not  prevail 
against  thee ;  for  I  am  with  thee  to  save  thee,  and  to 
deliver  thee,  saith  Jehovah"  (15:  19-21), 

In  this  man's  prayer  life  we  find  revealed  a  religion  utterly 
separate  from  sacrifice,  priest,  or  sanctuary.  It  is  the  reli- 
gion of  "a  personal  relation  between  God  and  the  individual 
soul."  Amos,  Hosea,  Isaiah  would  have  recognized  this  as 
real  religion.  But  no  one  of  these  men  has  left  us  a  record 
of  inner  communion  with  God  so  vivid  and  beautiful.  "By 
his  life  of  personal  communion  with  God,  Jeremiah  be- 
comes the  spiritual  father  of  those  psalmists,  whose  names 
are    indeed    unknown   to   us,   but   to    whom   we   owe    all   the 

288 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-4] 

deep  outpourings  of  the  heart  to  God  which  we  find  in  the 
Psalms."^ 


Fourteenth  Week,  Fourth  Day, 

b.   The  Prophet's   Verdict. 

Read  Jer.  7  and  8,  chapters  in  which  are  found  some  of  the 
prophet's  characteristic  and  original  messages. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  impression  made  upon 
a  man  of  Jeremiah's  temperament  and  personal  religious 
experience  by  the  popular  religion  and  morals  of  Judah. 

In  the  days  before  Josiah's  reformation,  when  Zephaniah 
was  heaping  his  anathemas  upon  the  young  fops  with  their 
foreign  ways,  Jeremiah  saw  persistent  baal-worship,  and 
baldly  called  it  harlotry  {2:2^).  He  found  men  saying  "to 
a  stock,  Thou  art  my  father;  and  to  a  stone,  Thou  hast 
brought  me  forth,"  Ah,  "But  where  are  thy  gods  that 
thou  hast  made  thee?  let  them  arise,  if  they  can  save  thee 
in  the  time  of  thy  trouble :  for  according  to  the  number  of 
thy  cities  are  thy  gods,  O  Judah"  (2:27,  28).  And  in  words 
far  more  loving,  more  tender,  more  passionate  than  Zepha- 
niah knew,  Jeremiah  pronounced  upon  his  people  the  divine 
verdict :  "They  have  forsaken  me,  the  fountain  of  living 
waters,  and  have  hewed  them  out  cisterns,  broken  cisterns, 
that  can  hold  no  water"  (2:13).  The  significance  of  the 
figure  can  be  appreciated  alone  by  those  who  have  known 
the  meaning  of  an  oasis,  found  at  last  after  the  long  marches 
and  the  mirages  of  the  desert.  Think  of  turning  from 
a  fountain  to  a  broken  cistern! 

Deserters  in  religion,  the  people  were  to  the  prophet's 
thought  defaulters  in  morals.  "Among  my  people  are  found 
wicked  men :  they  watch,  as  fowlers  lie  in  wait ;  they  set 
a  trap,  they  catch  men"  (5:26).  Indeed,  he  declared  the 
situation    worse    than    that    of    Sodom    in    the    olden. days: 


Driver,  "The  Book  of  the  Prophet  Jeremiah,"  p.  xxxviii. 
289 


[XIV-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

"Run  ye  to  and  fro  through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  and 
see  now,  and  know,  and  seek  in  the  broad  places  jthereof, 
if  ye  can  find  a  man,  if  there  be  any  that  doeth  justly,  that 
seeketh  truth;  and  I  will  pardon  her"  (5:  i). 

But  for  sin  there  must  be  punishment.  Like  his  con- 
temporary and  probable  comrade,  Zephaniah,  he  saw  at  first 
in  the  Scythians  the  scourge  of  God.  Later,  the  Chaldeans 
loomed  up  as  Judah's  destroyer. 

Jeremiah  greatly  admired  Josiah.  It  is  far  from  certain 
that  he  sympathized  with  all  the  aspects  of  the  reformation. 
He  seems  never  to  have  commended  Josiah  for  his  adoption 
of  the  Deuteronomic  Code;  but  in  the  later  days,  when  he 
was  upbraiding  Jehoiakim  for  his  extravagance,  so  untimely 
and  cruel,  he  said  of  Josiah:  "Did  not  thy 'father  eat  and 
drink,  and  do  justice  and  righteousness?  then  it  was  well 
with  him.  He  judged  the  cause  of  the  poor  and  needy;  then 
it  was  well.  Was  not  this  to  know  me?  saith  Jehovah" 
(22:15,  16). 

With  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim  all  the  old  vices  and  super- 
stitions came  back.  As  in  England  with  the  reign  of  Charles 
the  Second  the  lower  forces  of  the  land,  held  in  leash  by 
Cromwell,  broke  loose,  so  in  Judah  the  ancient  heathenish 
ways  became  once  more  the  popular  ways.  Men  began  again 
to  love  and  serve  the  sun  and  moon  and  all  the  host  of 
heaven  (8:2).  There  was  enough  of  that  "family  religion" 
of  which  we  delight  to  speak,  but  it  meant  the  cooperation 
of   the  entire   family  in   idolatry. 

Seest  thou  not  what  they  do  in  the  cities  of  Judah 
and  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem?  The  children  gather 
wood,  and  the  fathers  kindle  the  fire,  and  the  women 
knead  the  dough,  to  make  cakes  to  the  queen  of  heaven, 
and  to  pour  out  drink-offerings  unto  other  gods. — 
Jer.  7 :  17,  18. 

And  the  ethical  inference  from  these  "religious"  activities 
was  drawn  by  all :  "They  hold  fast  deceit,  they  refuse  to  re- 
turn ...  no  man  repenteth  him  of  his  wickedness"  (8:5,  6). 

290 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-4] 

c.  The  Issue  betzveen  Prophet  and  People. 

The  irreconcilable  conflict  between  Jeremiah  and  his  fellow- 
citizens  arose  from  this  fact :  While  they  were  sinning  against 
God  and  man,  they  thought  that  no  evil  could  befall  them. 
The  enthronement  of  the  Deuteronomic  Code  gave  to  the 
temple,  to  the  priesthood,  to  the  sacrifices,  and  to  the  city  of 
Jerusalem,  a  prestige  which  fostered  disastrous  religious  self- 
complacency.  "We  are  the  people.  If  we  perish,  Jehovah 
worship  will  perish  out  of  the  earth,  and  Jehovah  himself, 
if  he  does  not  die,  will  pass.  We  have  now  fulfilled  the  com- 
mandments of  our  God,  observed  every  ceremony  which  he 
requires.  It  is  now  his  small  but  imperative  task  to  protect 
us."  Jeremiah  could  not  evade  the  issue.  "Will  ye  steal, 
murder,  and  commit  adultery,  and  swear  falsely,  and  burn 
incense  unto  Baal,  and  walk  after  other  gods  that  ye  have 
not  known,  and  come  and  stand  before  me  in  this  house, 
which  is  called  by  my  name,  and  say,  We  are  delivered ;  that 
ye  may  do  all  these  abominations?"  (7:9,  10). 

"Do  you  imagine  that  God  is  characterless  as  you  are? 
How  can  you  suppose  that  the  shadow  of  the  temple  shelters 
you  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  wings  of  the  Almighty?" 
Jeremiah  bade  his  hearers  go  to  Shiloh,  where  was  Jehovah's 
sanctuary  at  the  first,  where  Samuel  the  honored  prophet 
ministered  in  the  old  days.  -The  sanctuary  itself  was  gone, 
even  as  the  whole  Northern  Kingdom  had  disappeared. 

But  go  ye  now  unto  my  place  which  was  in  Shiloh, 
where  I  caused  my  name  to  dwell  at  the  first,  and  see 
what  I  did  to  it  for  the  wickedness  of  my  people  Israel. 
And  now,  because  ye  have  done  all  these  works,  saith 
Jehovah,  and  I  spake  unto  you,  rising  up  early  and 
speaking,  but  ye  heard  not :  and  I  called  you,  but  ye 
answered  not :  therefore  will  I  do  unto  the  house  wliich 
is  called  by  my  name,  wherein  ye  trust,  and  unto  the 
place  which  I  gave  to  you  and  to  your  fathers,  as  I  did 
to  Shiloh.  And  I  will  cast  you  out  of  my  sight,  as  I 
have  cast  out  all  your  brethren,  even  the  whole  seed  of 
Ephraim.— Jer.  7:12-15. 

"Ah,  but  we  have  carefully  attended  to  all  the  ritual  prescribed 

291 


[XIV-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

by  Jehovah's  law !"  Swift  as  light,  sharp  as  lightning,  comes 
back  the  word :  "To  what  purpose  cometh  there  to  me  frankin- 
cense from  Sheba,  and  the  sweet  cane  from  a  far  country? 
your  burnt-offerings  are  not  acceptable,  nor  your  sacrifices 
pleasing  unto  me"  (6:20). 

The  "great  heretic"  pressed  the  argument :  You  talk  all 
the  time  about  your  obedience  to  the  law  of  Moses  in  this 
eternal  multiplication  of  sacrifices.  "How  do  ye  say,  We  are 
wise,  and  the  law  of  Jehovah  is  with  us  ?  But,  behold,  the 
false  pen  of  the  scribes  hath  wrought  falsely"  (8:8).  I  say 
to  you  that  sacrifice  never  was  the  religion  of  Jehovah. 

I  spake  not  unto  your  fathers,  nor  commanded  them 
in  the  day  that  I  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
concerning  burnt-offerings  or  sacrifices :  but  this  thing 
I  commanded  them,  saying.  Hearken  unto  my  voice, 
and  I  will  be  your  God,  and  ye  shall  be  my  people ;  and 
walk  ye  in  all  the  way  that  I  command  you,  that  it  may 
be  well  with  you. — Jer.  7 :  22,  23. 

Amos,  could  he  have  heard  Jeremiah,  would  have  applauded 
the  great  words  (compare  Amos  5:25);  Hosea  and  Isaiah 
would  have  said  "Amen" ;  but  the  priests  and  professional 
prophets  and  the  populace  could  but  think  to  themselves :  "We 
have  a  law  and  by  that  law  he  ought  to  die.  Let  us  just  take 
a  leaf  out  of  this  newly  discovered  Deuteronomic  Code  of 
ours.  It  says,  'The  prophet,  that  shall  speak  a  word  pre- 
sumptuously in  my  name,  which  I  have  not  commanded  him 
to   speak  .  .  .  that   same   prophet   shall   die'"    (Deut    18:20). 

But  while  they  were  piously  plotting  the  prophet's  death, 
pointing  with  their  fingers  to  the  damning  passage  from 
Deuteronomy,  Jeremiah  was  pleading  with  them :  "Is  there 
no  balm  in  Gilead?  is  there  no  physician  there?  why  then  is 
not  the  health  of  the  daughter  of  my  people  recovered?" 
Truly  there  is  balm  in  Gilead,  truly  the  healers  of  Gilead  are 
famous.  Truly  there  is  healing  for  every  physical  hurt  of 
men.  Is  not  Jehovah  in  Zion?  The  balm,  the  healer,  are 
here,  if  you  will  but  have  them.  The  priest  and  the  prophet 
"have  healed  the  hurt  of  the  daughter  of  my  people  slightly, 

292 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-5] 

saying  Peace,  peace;  when  there  is  no  peace."  Is  not  Jehovah 
in  Zionf  He  alone  can  cleanse,  can  heal  (See  8:22,  11,  19). 
Along  with  this  word,  we  may  place  another,  which  Moulton 
declares  to  be  among  the  most  sublime  of  the  many  sublime 
sayings  in  Jeremiah : 

Thus  saith  Jehovah,  Let  not  the  wise  man  glory  in 
his  wisdom,  neither  let  the  mighty  man  glory  in  his 
might,  let  not  the  rich  man  glory  in  his  riches ;  but  let 
him  that  glorieth  glory  in  this,  that  he  hath  understand- 
ing, and  knoweth  me,  that  I  am  Jehovah  who  exerciseth 
lovingkindness,  justice,  and  righteousness,  in  the  earth: 
for  in  these  things  I  delight,  saith  Jehovah. — ^Jer.  9: 
23,  24. 

The  words  breathe  the  very  spirit  of  him  who  in  after 
years  would  say:  "And  this  is  Hfe  eternal,  that  they  should 
know  thee  the  only  true  God,  and  him  whom  thou  didst  send, 
even  Jesus  Christ"  (John  17:3). 

Fourteenth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

In  words  which  we  recognize  as  purest  poetry,  Jeremiah 
besought  his  people: 

Give  glory  to  Jehovah  your  God,  before  he  cause 
darkness,  and  before  your  feet  stumble  upon  the  dark 
mountains,  and,  while  ye  look  for  light,  he  turn  it  into 
the  shadow  of  death,  and  make  it  gross  darkness.  But 
if  ye  will  not  hear  it,  my  soul  shall  weep  in  secret  for 
your  pride ;  and  mine  eye  shall  weep  sore,  and  run  down 
with  tears,  because  Jehovah's  flock  is  taken  captive. — 
Jer.  13  :  16,  17. 

John  Bright  once  said :  "I  appeal  to  the  conscience  of  Eng- 
land, and  I  know  in  my  heart  that  I  shall  be  heard."  Jeremiah 
appealed  to  the  conscience  of  Jerusalem,  and  met  no  response. 
Hear  him  plead : 

"Stand  ye  in  the  ways  and  see,  and  ask  for  the  old  paths, 
where  is  the  good  way;  and  walk  therein,  and  ye  shall  find 
rest  for  your  soul,"  and  they  quietly  remarked:  "We  will  not 
walk  therein."    These  men  couldn't  even  blush  (6:  16,  15). 

293 


[XIV-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

"It  takes  a  soul 
To  move  a  body — it  takes  a  high-souled  man 
To  move  the  masses  even  to  a  cleaner  stye. 
It  takes  the  ideal  to  blow  an  inch  inside 
The  dust  of  the  actual." 

Yes,  but  did  the  body  move?    Was  the  stye  cleaner?     Did  the 
dust  of  the  actual  stir?     Jeremiah  w^ould  be  heard  one  day. 

d.  Patriot  or  Traitor? 

Jeremiah  was  not  only  one  of  the  greatest  moral  and  reli- 
gious teachers  of  all  time :  he  was  a  statesman.  He  saw  that 
Judah  had  but  one  chance  of  life,  that  gained  by  quiet  sub- 
mission to  the  Chaldeans.  But  his  political  teaching  was  as 
distasteful  to  his  hearers  as  his  ethical  and  religious  preach- 
ments. He  was  met  by  callous  skepticism :  "Where  is  the 
word  of  Jehovah?  let  it  come  now"   (17:  15). 

Again,  he  learned  that  the  citizens  of  his  own  little  town, 
the  playmates  of  his  childhood,  had  framed  a  conspiracy 
against  him  (11:18-23).  Again  he  faced  taunts  and 
treachery : 

"Then  said  they.  Come,  and  let  us  devise  devices  against 
Jeremiah ;  for  the  law  shall  not  perish  from  the  priest,  nor 
counsel  from  the  wise,  nor  the  word  from  the  prophet.^" 
Come  and  let  us  smite  him  with  the  tongue,  and  let  us  not 
give  heed  to  any  of  his  words"   (18:  18). 

He  was  imprisoned  in  the  stocks  :  "Now  Pash-hur,  the  son 
of  Immer  the  priest,  who  was  chief  officer  in  the  house  of 
Jehovah,  heard  Jeremiah  prophesying  these  things.  Then 
Pash-hur  smote  Jeremiah  the  prophet,  and  put  him  in  the 
stocks  that  were  in  the  upper  gate  of  Benjamin,  which  was 
in  the  house  of  Jehovah"  (20:1,  2).  Again  a  contemptible 
and  contemptuous  king  cut  with  his  pen-knife  the  manuscript 
of  the  prophet's  message,  patiently  written  by  his  secretary 
Baruch,  and  proceeded  to  burn  it  "in  the  fire  that  was  in  the 
brazier." 


10  Note,  incidentally,  the  division  of  the  nation's  teachers  into  the  three 
classes,  priests,  prophets,  and  the  wise — a  division  we  shall  meet  again 
(see  p.  372). 

294 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-5] 

And  they  went  in  to  the  king  into  the  court ;  but  they 
had  laid  up  the  roll  in  the  chamber  of  Elishama  the 
scribe ;  and  they  told  all  the  words  in  the  ears  of  the 
king.  So  the  king  sent  Jehudi  to  fetch  the  roll ;  and 
he  took  it  out  of  the  chamber  of  Elishama  the  scribe. 
And  Jehudi  read  it  in  the  ears  of  the  king,  and  in  the 
ears  of  all  the  princes  that  stood  beside  the  king.  Now 
the  king  was  sitting  in  the  winter-house  in  the  ninth 
month :  and  there  was  a  fire  in  the  brazier  burning  be- 
fore him.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jehudi  had  read 
three  or  four  leaves,  that  the  king  cut  it  with  the  pen- 
knife, and  cast  it  into  the  fire  that  was  in  the  brazier, 
until  all  the  roll  was  consumed  in  the  fire  that  was  in 
the  brazier.  And  they  were  not  afraid,  nor  rent  their 
garments,  neither  the  king,  nor  any  of  his  servants  that 
heard  all  these  words.  Moreover  Elnathan  and  Delaiah 
and  Gemariah  had  made  intercession  to  the  king  that 
he  would  not  burn  the  roll ;  but  he  would  not  hear  them. 
And  the  king  commanded  Jerahmeel  the  king's  son, 
and  Seraiah  the  son  of  Azriel,  and  Shelemiah  the  son 
of  Abdeel,  to  take  Baruch  the  scribe  and  Jeremiah  the 
prophet ;  but  Jehovah  hid  them. 

Then  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  to  Jeremiah,  after 
that  the  king  had  burned  the  roll,  and  the  words  which 
Baruch  wrote  at  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah,  saying,  Take 
thee  again  another  roll,  and  write  in  it  all  the  former 
words  that  were  in  the  first  roll,  which  Jehoiakim  the 
king  of  Judah  hath  burned. — Jer.  36 :  20-28. 

We  have  read  of  a  mother  who  cried  bitterly  as  she  thought 
of  her  idiot  child,  and  said,  "For  fourteen  years  I  have 
cared  for  that  child  day  and  night.  I  have  given  up  society, 
and  spent  the  time  with  her,  and  today  she  does  not  know  me 
from  you.  If  she  would  recognize  me  once,  it  would  pay 
me  for  all  I  have  ever  done  for  her."  Jeremiah's  passionate, 
almost  maternal  love  for  his  people  met  what  must  have 
seemed  to  him  an  almost  idiotic  lack  of  response  and  recogni- 
tion, or  rather  an  insane  hostility. 

One  is  reminded  of  Ibsen's  "Enemy  of  the  People."  There 
is  an  interesting  parallel,  too,  between  Jeremiah  and  Tolstoi. 
Many  a  smaller  man  was  exiled,  tortured,  killed  by  the  Rus- 
sian autocracy ;  Tolstoi  was  left  to  live  and  speak  his  message. 

295 


[XIV-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Uriah  probably  never  dared  to  breathe  half  the  thoughts  which 
Jeremiah  hurled  at  the  priests  and  self-styled  patriots  of  Jeru- 
salem.   Uriah  was  killed  (26:20-24),  while  Jeremiah  lived  on. 

e.  "Whom  the  Gods  Would  Destroy." 

In  the  great  crises  of  American  history,  there  have  been 
great  men  to  lead  us.  But  we  should  be  fools  indeed  if  we 
should  deify  brainlessness,  and  trust  to  precedent  or  a  falsely 
conceived  providence  to  furnish  us  at  every  crisis  a  Washing- 
ton or  a  Lincoln.  In  the  Holy  City,  in  crises  which  shrieked 
for  great  rulers,  folly  was  the  actual  sovereign.  Jehoiakim 
rebelled  against  Nebuchadrezzar.  The  Chaldeans  at  once  be- 
sieged Jerusalem.  Jehoiakim,  who  had  brought  on  the  evil, 
died  in  the  midst  of  the  siege,  leaving  a  heavy  task  to  his 
successor,  Jehoiachin  or  Coniah.  The  city  was  captured  597 
B.  C.  In  the  First  Exile,  so  called,  most  of  the  ablest,  noblest 
citizens  of  Jerusalem,  among  them  Ezekiel,  were  carried  away 
into  Babylon.  With  them  went  the  king,  who  had  served  as 
a  pathetic  figurehead  for  three  months.  The  writer  of  II 
Kings  derives  some  poor  comfort  from  the  fact  that  the 
royal  captive  was  well  treated  in  his  latter  days  (II  Kings 
25  :  27-30,  cf.  Jer.  52  :  31-34)- 

In  586  B.  C.  occurred  the  next  great  act  in  the  tragedy 
of  Jerusalem,  surely  the  very  Mother  of  Sorrows.  Nebuchad- 
rezzar had  placed  upon  the  throne  a  weakling  son  of  Josiah, 
to  whom  he  gave  the  royal  name  Zedekiah.  Buoyed  by  false 
hopes,  which  were  inspired  by  false  prophets,  encouraged 
by  large  promises  from  Egypt,  the  king  followed  the  fatal 
course  of  his  predecessors,  and  rebelled  against  his  sovereign. 
Jeremiah  did  his  best  to  prevent  the  murder  of  the  state ; 
but  to  no  purpose.  And  when  Zedekiah,  still  believing  in 
the  man  he  would  not  obey,  sent  messengers  to  him,  saying, 
"peradventure  Jehovah  will  deal  with  us  according  to  all  his 
wondrous  works,"  Jeremiah  made  reply : 

Then  said  Jeremiah  unto  them,  Thus  shall  ye  say  to 
Zedekiah :  Thus  saith  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  Be- 
hold, I  will  turn  back  the  weapons  of  war  that  are  in 

296 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-5] 

your  hands,  wherewith  ye  fight  against  the  king  of 
Babylon,  and  against  the  Chaldeans  that  besiege  you, 
without  the  walls ;  and  I  will  gather  them  into  the  midst 
of  this  city.  And  I  myself  will  fight  against  you  with 
an  outstretched  hand  and  with  a  strong  arm,  even  in 
anger,  and  in  wrath,  and  in  great  indignation.  .  .  .  And 
unto  this  people  thou  shalt  say,  Thus  saith  Jehovah : 
Behold,  I  set  before  you  the  way  of  life  and  the  way  of 
death.  He  that  abideth  in  this  city  shall  die  by  the 
sword,  and  by  the  famine,  and  by  the  pestilence ;  but  he 
that  goeth  out,  and  passeth  over  to  the  Chaldeans  that 
besiege  you,  he  shall  live,  and  his  life  shall  be  unto  him 
for  a  prey.  For  I  have  set  my  face  upon  this  city  for 
evil,  and  not  for  good,  saith  Jehovah :  it  shall  be  given 
into  the  hand  of  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  he  shall  burn 
it  with  fire. — Jer.  21 :  3-5,  8-iG. 

In  the  course  of  the  siege,  lasting  a  year  and  a  half,  the 
forces  of  the  Chaldeans  were  for  a  time  drawn  away  to  meet 
the  Egyptians,  under  Pharaoh  Hophra.  Great  was  the  re- 
joicing within  the  city.  "We  knew  that  Jeremiah  was  a  false 
prophet  and  a  traitor !"  The  slaves  whom  the  citizens  had 
set  free  were  brought  again  into  bondage.  Jeremiah,  whom 
they  chanced  to  see  going  out  to  his  hoi^ie  in  Anathoth, 
they  stopped,  declaring  that  he  was  falling  to  the  Chaldeans. 
Jeremiah  denied  the  charge,  but  without  avail.  He  was  put 
into  prison,  and  then  was  cast  into  a  dungeon,  into  whose 
mire  he  sank  down,  presumably  to  die  (38:5,  6).  Saved  by 
an  Ethiopian  eunuch,  he  remained  under  guard  until  the  city 
was  taken. 

Now  when  Ebed-melech  the  Ethiopian,  a  eunuch,  who 
was  in  the  king's  house,  heard  that  they  had  put  Jere- 
miah in  the  dungeon  (the  king  then  sitting  in  the  gate 
of  Benjamin),  Ebed-melech  went  forth  out  of  the  king's 
house,  and  spake  to  the  king,  saying.  My  lord  the  king, 
these  men  have  done  evil  in  all  that  they  have  done  to 
Jeremiah  the  prophet,  whom  they  have  cast  into  the 
dungeon ;  and  he  is  like  to  die  in  the  place  where  he  is, 
because  of  the  famine;  for  there  is  no  more  bread  in 
the  city.  Then  the  king  commanded  Ebed-melech  the 
Ethiopian,  saying.  Take  from  hence  thirty  men  with 
thee,  and  take  up  Jeremiah  the  prophet  out  of  the  dun- 

297 


[XIV-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

geon,  before  he  die.  So  Ebed-melech  took  the  men 
with  him,  and  went  into  the  house  of  the  king  under 
the  treasury,  and  took  thence  rags  and  worn-out  gar- 
ments, and  let  them  down  by  cords  into  the  dungeon 
to  Jeremiah,  And  Ebed-melech  the  Ethiopian  said  unto 
Jeremiah,  Put  now  these  rags  and  worn-out  garments 
under  thine  armholes  under  the  cords.  And  Jeremiah 
did  so.  So  they  drew  up  Jeremiah  with  the  cords,  and 
took  him  up  out  of  the  dungeon :  and  Jeremiah  re- 
mained in  the  court  of  the  guard. — Jer.  38:7-13. 

The  Chaldean  soldiery  gave  themselves  to  loot.  All  the 
vessels  of  the  temple  were  taken  to  be  devoted  to  Marduk 
of  Babylon.  The  temple  itself,  with  all  its  tragic,  epic 
memories,  was  soon  a  heap  of  ruins.  Zedekiah  fled.  "But  the 
army  of  Chaldeans  pursued  after  the  king,  and  overtook  him 
in  the  plains  of  Jericho;  and  all  his  army  was  scattered  from 
him.  Then  they  took  the  king,  and  carried  him  up  unto  the 
king  of  Babylon  to  Riblah ;  and  they  gave  judgment  upon  him. 
And  they  slew  the  sons  of  Zedekiah  before  his  eyes,  and  put 
out  the  eyes  of  Zedekiah,  and  bound  him  in  fetters,  and 
carried  him  to  Babylon"  (II  Kings  25:5-7). 

Jeremiah,  whom  the  conquerors  knew  as  their  advocate, 
had  the  option  of  going  with  the  exiles — a  happier  fate — 
or  of  staying  with  the  pitiable  group  of  people  whom  the 
Chaldeans  did  not  think  worth  removing. 

Fourteenth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

f.  The  Prophet  and  the  Remnant. 

Read  II  Kings  25  :  22-26,  for  the  historian's  picture  of  the  last 

scenes  in  the  national  life  of  Judah. 

Happiness  never  decided  Jeremiah's  course.  He  remained 
with  the  Remnant. 

Ishmael,  of  the  royal  line,  to  vent  a  private  grudge,  killed 
the  unsuspecting  and  patriotic  governor  of  the  remnant,  Geda- 
liah,  appointee  of  Babylon  (II  Kings  25:23-25).  The  little 
flock  of  poor  and  beaten  Hebrews  now  felt  sure  that  Ne- 
buchadrezzar  would   charge   them   all   with   the   murder,   and 

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POLITICS  AND   PROPHECY  IXIV-6] 

would  sweep  them  from  the  earth.  Against  the  urgent  advice 
of  Jeremiah,  "the  nobles  and  mihtary  commanders  of  the 
little  Jewish  state,  with  the  men,  women,  and  children,  with 
Jeremiah  and  his  scribe  as  compulsory  attendants,  migrated 
in  a  body  to  Egypt." 

And  it  came  to  pass  that,  when  Jeremiah  had  made  an 
end  of  speaking  unto  all  the  people  all  the  words  of 
Jehovah  their  God,  wherewith  Jehovah  their  God  had 
sent  him  to  them,  even  all  these  words,  then  spake 
Azariah  the  son  of  Hoshaiah,  and  Johanan  the  son  of 
Kareah,  and  all  the  proud  men,  saying  unto  Jeremiah, 
Thou  speakest  falsely :  Jehovah  our  God  hath  not  sent 
thee  to  say.  Ye  shall  not  go  into  Egypt  to  sojourn 
there ;  but  Baruch  the  son  of  Neriah  setteth  thee  on 
against  us,  to  deliver  us  into  the  hand  of  the  Chaldeans, 
tha-t  they  may  put  us  to  death,  and  carry  us  away  captive 
to  Babylon.  So  Johanan  the  son  of  Kareah,  and  all  the 
captains  of  the  forces,  and  all  the  people,  obeyed  not  the 
voice  of  Jehovah,  to  dwell  in  the  land  of  Judah.  But 
Johanan  the  son  of  Kareah,  and  all  the  captains  of  the 
forces,  took  all  the  remnant  of  Judah,  that  were  re- 
turned from  all  the  nations  whither  they  had  been 
driven,  to  sojourn  in  the  land  of  Judah;  the  men,  and 
the  women,  and  the  children,  and  the  king's  daughters, 
and  every  person  that  Nebuzaradan  the  captain  of  the 
guard  had  left  with  Gedaliah  the  son  of  Ahikam,  the 
son  of  Shaphan ;  and  Jeremiah  the  prophet,  and  Baruch 
the  son  of  Neriah.  And  they  came  into  the  land  of 
Egypt ;  for  they  obeyed  not  the  voice  of  Jehovah :  and 
they  came  unto  Tahpanhes. — Jer.  43 :  1-7. 

The  last  recorded  scene  in  Jeremiah's  life  is  laid  in  Egypt. 
The  old  prophet  had  become  practically  the  unloved  pastor 
of  some  hundreds  of  exiles.  One  remembers  the  word  of 
Arnold  : 

"They  out-talk'd  thee,  hiss'd  thee,  tore  thee? 
Better  men  fared  thus  before  thee ; 
Fired  their  ringing  shot  and  pass'd, 
Hotly  charged — and  sank  at  last. 

Charge  once  more,  then,  and  be  dumb  1 
Let  the  victors,  when  they  come, 
When  the  forts  of  folly  fall, 
Find  thy  body  by  the  wall !" 
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[XIV-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

To  the  last  the  prophet  charged  the  forts  of  folly.  The  con- 
test of  Jeremiah  with  the  women  would  be  a  delightful  story, 
but  for  the  tragedy  behind  it.  He  pleaded  with  them  to  give 
up  their  idolatry,  but  they  answered  back : 

Then  all  the  men  who  knew  that  their  wives  burned 
incense  unto  other  gods,  and  all  the  women  that  stood 
by,  a  great  assembly,  even  all  the  people  that  dwelt  in 
the  land  of  Egypt,  in  Pathros,  answered  Jeremiah,  say- 
ing. As  for  the  word  that  thou  hast  spoken  unto  us  in 
the  name  of  Jehovah,  we  will  not  hearken  unto  thee. 
But  we  will  certainly  perform  every  word  that  is  gone 
forth  out  of  our  mouth,  to  burn  incense  unto  the  queen 
of  heaven,  and  to  pour  out  drink-offerings  unto  her, 
as  we  have  done,  we  and  our  fathers,  our  kings  and 
our  princes,  in  the  cities  of  Judah,  and  in  the  streets 
of  Jerusalem ;  for  then  had  we  plenty  of  victuals,  a?nd 
were  well,  and  saw  no  evil.  But  since  we  left  off  burn- 
ing incense  to  the  queen  of  heaven,  and  pouring  out 
drink-offerings  unto  her,  we  have  wanted  all  things, 
and  have  been  consumed  by  the  sword  and  by  the 
famine.  And  when  we  burned  incense  to  the  queen 
of  heaven,  and  poured  out  drink-offerings  unto  her, 
did  we  make  her  cakes  to  worship  her,  and  pour  out 
drink-offerings  unto  her,  without  our  husbands  ? — Jer. 
44:  15-19- 

And  the  old  man  could  only  retort  that  their  woes  had 
fallen  upon  them  because  of  their  neglect,  not  of  the  gods, 
but  of  him  who  is  God  alone.  Neither  prophet  nor  people 
had  yet  learned  the  lesson  of  Job. 

A  not  improbable  tradition  tells  us  that  Jeremiah  was  stoned 
to  death  by  his  people. 

g.  All  Estimate. 

Probably  no  book  of  the  Old  Testament  has  undergone 
so  many  changes  as  the  book  of  Jeremiah.  For  example, 
the  Greek  version  contains  2,700  fewer  words  than  the  He- 
brew version.  Some  of  the  greatest  passages  of  the  book 
we  shall  study  later.  If  not  certainly  by  the  prophet  himself, 
they  are  the  words  of  men  who  knew  the  heart  of  the  prophet 

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POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-6] 

and  the  heart  of  his  God.  But  the  words  that  we  have 
studied  bring  him  easily  into  the  forefront  of  "the  glorious 
company  of  the  prophets."  There  had  been  a  day  when  Jere- 
miah's little  secretary  was  worried  about  his  future.  The 
amanuensis  of  a  great  prophet  in  great  danger  has  no  sine- 
cure. But  on  that  day  Jeremiah  had  said  to  Baruch,  "Seekest 
thou  great  things  for  thyself?  seek  them  not"  (45:5).  It 
is  quite  certain  that  if  Baruch  had  started  out  in  search  of 
great  things,  he  would  have  been  forgotten  more  than  twenty- 
four  hundred  years  ago.  Today  his  name  is  known  wher- 
ever is  known  the  name  of  Jeremiah. 

To  our  prophet  the  gods  of  the  heathen  were  no-gods. 
Jehovah  alone  was  God.  And  his  religion  was  completely 
differentiated  from  temple,  priesthood,  book,  ritual.  It  was 
"the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man."  "Jeremiah  is  himself 
the  most  conspicuous  example  in  the  Old  Testament  of  reli- 
gion individualized  in  a  person."  He  belonged  to  God,  com- 
muned with  him,  knew  that  God  was  with  him  in  the  misery 
of  the  dungeon,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  contradiction  of  sin- 
ners. And  this  religion  of  his,  because -it  was  so  personal 
and  real,  must  issue  in  social  relations  of  integrity,  justice, 
and  lovingkindness. 

Some  men  are  smaller  than  their  messages.  Nicholas  of 
Russia,  a  very  small  man,  suggested  the  First  Hague  Con- 
ference. Other  men  are  bigger  than  anything  they  ever  did 
or  said.  Such  a  man  was  Jeremiah.  To  him  often  "the 
voice  of  events"  must  have  spoken  brutally,  "Thou  hast 
wasted  thy  life."  While  he  was  living,  his  words  seemed 
utterly  futile.  As  a  preacher  once  described  his  own  work, 
he  seemed  to  be  shooting  his  rifle  at  a  mud  parapet.  The 
one  patriot  of  the  city,  for  a  score  of  years  he  was  thought 
to  be  a  traitor  by  the  people  he  loved.  To  be  misunderstood 
by-  your  friends  for  a  day  is  hard.  To  be  misunderstood  for 
years  is  heart-breaking.  But,  like  General  Booth,  he  "hungered 
for  Hell."  Never  for  an  instant  did  he  waver  in  his 
career  of  sacrificial  devotion.  To  no  man  have  the  words 
been  more  fittingly  applied : 

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[XIV-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

".  .  .  iron  dug  from  central  gloom 
And  heated  hot  with  burning  fears, 
And  dipt  in  baths  of  hissing  tears 
And  batter'd  with  the  shocks  of  doom 
To   shape  and   use." 

Jeremiah's  work  did  not  die.  It  may  well  be  that  he  "sat 
for  the  portrait"  of  the  Suffering  Servant  of  Isaiah  53. 
In  the  days  of  Jesus,  people  whispered  one  to  another, 
"This  must  be  Jeremiah."  The  prophet  knew  little  of  the 
Master's  forgiveness  (11:20-23);  but  no  man  of  the  Old 
Testament  approached  more  nearly  to  our  Master  in  the 
spirit  of  his  life  and  of  his  death ;  and  "Except  a  grain  of 
wheat  fall  into  the  earth  and  die,  it  abideth  by  itself  alone; 
but  if  it  die,  it  beareth  much  fruit"   (John  12:24). 

Fourteenth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

Summary 

To  the  thoughtful  man  the  period  we  have  been  studying 
is  profoundly  saddening.  Isaiah  wrought  his  great  work, 
to  have  it  apparently  undone  by  Manasseh.  Josiah  and  his 
prophetic  comrades  wrought  their  reformation,  to  have  its 
fruits  apparently  blighted  by  Jehoiakim  and  his  successors. 
But  the  very  fanaticism  of  Manasseh's  reaction  tended  to 
cure  it;  and  after  the  centralization  of  worship  in  Jeru- 
salem, the  heathenism  of  Judah  at  its  worst  was  probably 
not  as  prevalent  or  dominant  as  in  the  earlier  years. 

Meanwhile  certain  ideas,  indestructible  ideas,  had  entered 
the  minds  of  men.  In  the  Exile  the  lessons  previously 
ignored  were  remembered.  Men  recalled  the  words  of 
Zephaniah  the  aristocrat,  who  fought  for  God's  democracy. 
They  remembered  the  lesson  of  Nahum,  that  any  civiliza- 
tion which  builds  itself  upon  lies  and  lechery  and  cruelty 
must  perish.  They  remembered  the  revelation  to  Habak- 
kuk,  that  the  righteous  shall  live  by  his  faithfulness.  They 
remembered  well  the  words  of  Jeremiah,  his  passionate  pro- 
test against  no-gods,  his  surpassing  fearlessness  in  severing 

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POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XIV-7] 

religion  from  the  sacrificial  system  and  the  temple  cere- 
monies. 

But  in  the  aftertimes  men  remembered  best  the  men: 
Zephaniah,  who  dared  attack  things  as  they  are  in  the  in- 
terest of  things  as  they  ought  to  be ;  Nahum,  with  his  hunger 
for  world  justice;  Habakkuk,  who  had  the  courage  to  ques- 
tion his  God,  and  the  greater  courage  to  wait  in  faith  till 
God's  answer  came;  and,  above  all,  Jeremiah,  the  supposed 
traitor,  the  proved  patriot,  the  weak  man,  who  through  God's 
grace  became  "a  fortified  city  and  an  iron  pillar  and  brazen 
walls"  against  land  and  kings  and  princes  and  priests  and 
people.  They  remembered  these  men  and  gloried  in  them, 
and  many  a  man  came  to  warm  himself  at  the  fires  of  their 
faith  and  their  fearlessness. 

And  the  message  of  the  century  we  have  studied  comes  to 
us  in  our  despondency : 

"Say  not,  the  struggle  naught  availeth, 

The  labour  and  the  wounds  are  vain, 
The  enemy  faints  not,  nor  faileth. 

And  as  things  have  been  they  remain. 

If  hopes  were  dupes,  fears  may  be  liars; 

It  may  be,  in  yon  smoke  concealed. 
Your  comrades  chase  e'en  now  the  fliers, 

And,  but  for  you,  possess  the  field. 

For  while  the  tired  waves,  vainly  breaking, 

Seem  here  no  painful  inch  to  gain, 
Far  back,  through  creeks  and  inlets  making, 

Comes  silent,  flooding  in,  the  main. 

And  not  by  eastern  windows  only. 

When  daylight  comes,  comes  in  the  light ; 

In  front,  the  sun  climbs  slow,  how  slowly, 
But  westward,  look,  the  land  is  bright." 

— Arthur  Hugh  Clough. 

A  Footnote:  Kings  and  Chronicles 

Our  scriptural  authorities  for  the  period  extending  from 
the  division  of  the  kingdom  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 

303 


[XIV-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

are  the  prophecies  and  the  books  of  Kings.  The  material 
of  I  and  II  Kings  is  largely  derived  from  documents  prac- 
tically contemporary  with  the  events  recorded.  All  the 
material  has  been  worked  over  by  a  compiler  interested  in  the 
achievements  of  Josiah's  reformation,  which  centralized  Je- 
hovah worship  in  Jerusalem.  The  books,  though  often  sub- 
jected in  later  times  to  slight  changes  by  copyists  and  editors, 
seem  to  have  taken  essentially  final  shape  by  400  B.  C. 

The  books  of  Chronicles  narrate  the  story  of  the  chosen 
people,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Jerusalem  priesthood,  at 
approximately  the  close  of  the  fourth  century.  The  Chron- 
icler's interest  is  homiletical  rather  than  historical.  That  is : 
the  nation's  story  must  preach  a  sermon.  He  wishes  to  prove 
that  national  prosperity  is  assured  by  national  piety,  that 
every  declension  from  the  strict  worship  of  Jehovah  must 
be  followed  by  political  decline.  He  is  deeply  interested  in 
the  genealogies  which  help  to  keep  the  Jewish  blood  un- 
tainted. He  delights  in  stories  of  the  organization  and  ob- 
servance of  the  temple  feasts  and  fasts  and  other  ritual. 
He  exalts  the  various  groups  of  temple  officials.  Martin 
Luther  rightly  recognized  the  superior  historical  value  of  the 
books  of  Kings,  and  said,  "The  Books  of  Kings  go  ten  thou- 
sand steps  for  one  of  the  writers  of  Chronicles."  An  inter- 
esting illustration  of  the  Chronicler's  attitude  and  purpose 
is  given  us  in  I  Chron.  21  as  contrasted  with  II  Sam.  24. 

According  to  a  widespread  Oriental  belief,  the  taking  of 
a  military  census  was  displeasing  to  God.  It  was  thought 
an  evidence  of  the  pride  and  arrogancy  of  men.  In  the  book 
of  Exodus  30:  11-16,  while  provision  is  made  for  the  census 
of  Israel,  an  appropriate  sacrifice  is  also  provided:  "Then 
shall  they  give  every  man  a  ransom  for  his  soul  unto  Jehovah, 
when  thou  numberest  them;  that  there  be  no  plague  among 
them,  when  thou  numberest  them"  (Exodus  30:  11). 

In  the  early  narrative  of  II  Samuel,  Jehovah  himself  is 
represented  as  tempting  David  to  number  the  people.  In 
I  Chronicles  the  record  would  relieve  Jehovah  of  the  moral 
responsibility   of   the   plague.      Satan,   or   the   Adversary,   be- 

304 


POLITICS  AND  PROPHECY  [XlV-q] 

comes  the  tempter.  The  Chronicler  also  differs  from  the 
older  writer  in  his  description  of  the  angel  of  punishment, 
as  well  as  of  the  amount  given  by  the  king  in  his  purchase  of 
the  threshing  floor. 

While  not  of  great  value  in  our  study  of  the  period  which 
he  describes,  the  Chronicler  gives  to  us  an  impressive  and 
important  revelation  of  the  conceptions  and  convictions  of 
religious  men  in  the  days  when  the  nation  had  become  a 
church. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  With  what  religious  and  moral  convictions  would  a 
sympathetic  friend  of  Isaiah  have  entered  the  seventh  cen- 
tury ? 

2.  Would  you  think  it  inevitable  that  a  city  should  suffer 
from  religious  reaction  after  a  great  and  salutary  reforma- 
tion like  that  of  Isaiah? 

3.  Characterize  the  Day  of  Jehovah,  as  understood  by  Amos, 
by  Zephaniah,  and  by  the  common  populace  in  the  period  of 
each  prophet. 

4.  Victor  Hugo  writes  of  Waterloo :  "Was  it  possible  that 
Napoleon  should  have  won  that  battle?  No.  Why?  Because 
of  Wellington?  No.  Because  of  Bliicher?  No.  Because 
of  God.  Napoleon  had  been  denounced  in  the  Infinite,  and 
his  fall  had  been  decided  on.  He  embarrassed  God.  Waterloo 
is  not  a  battle,  it  is  a  change  of  front  on  the  part  of  the 
universe."  Compare  the  view  of  Victor  Hugo  with  that  of 
Nahum  in  his  prophecy  against  Assyria. 

5.  Have  you  at  present  any  light  to  throw  upon  Habak- 
kuk's  problem? 

6.  Compare  and  contrast  the  prayer  life  of  Jeremiah  with 
that  of  an  average  citizen  of  Jerusalem. 

7.  Did  not  the  people  of  Jerusalem  have  a  perfect  right 
to  believe  that  the  presence  of  the  temple,  with  its  punctilious 
worship,  would  save  them?     Why? 

8.  If  Jeremiah  had   been   in   Belgium  at  the  beginning  of 

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[XlV-q]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

the  Great  War,  what  do  you  suppose  would  have  been  his 
advice  to  King  Albert? 

9.  Why  did  the  people  wish  Jeremiah  to  go  down  to  Egypt 
with  them?  Why  did  they  not  take  the  first  opportunity  to 
get  rid  of  him? 


306 


CHAPTER  X 

Exilic  Hopes  and  Emphases 

"  Judaism  in  the  Making  " 

Introductory 
Fifteenth  Week,  First  Day. 

The  years  586-538  B.  C.  were  crucial  for  the  entire  Semitic 
world.  They  witnessed  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  of 
the  Jewish  state.  They  witnessed  as  well  the  ruin  of  her 
oppressor,  the  empire  of  Babylon,  and  the  incredibly  swift 
conquests  of  Cyrus  and  his  Persians   (Indo-Europeans). 

The  Judeans,  who  had  been  carried  away  in  the  First  Exile, 
were  called  by  Jeremiah  "the  good  figs."  Even  those  who 
were  exiled  in  586  B.  C.  were  among  the  more  substantial 
families  of  Jerusalem.  Some  of  these  exiles,  instead  of  being 
crushed  by  their  hideous  experience,  began  to  examine  causes, 
to  diagnose  their  spiritual  diseases ;  and  then,  under  their 
inspired  leaders,  they  sought  to  find  and  to  use  God's  remedy. 

The  study  of  this  chapter  will  give  us  an  opportunity  to  con- 
sider the  book  of  Lamentations,  the  prophecies  of  Ezekiel,  of 
Obadiah,  and  of  the  so-called  Prophet  of  the  Exile.  We  shall 
see  the  people  breaking  the  chains  of  their  old  provincial  con- 
ceptions of  God,  and  entering  into  liberating  experiences  with 
God.  At  the  same  time  we  shall  see  men  in  their  zeal  for 
holiness  welding  chains  which  would  one  day  bind  the  free 
spirit  of  religion. 

In  this  study,  instead  of  attempting  to  cover  each  book 
separately,  we  shall  group  the  message  of  the  exile,  as  found 
in  Lamentations,  Ezekiel,  Obadiah,  and  the  Prophet  of  the 
Exile,  under  the  following  headings  : 

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[XV-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

I.  The  Exiles'  Sorrow  for  Sin;  2.  The  Exiles'  Hope;  3, 
The  Grounds  of  Hope;  4.  The  Exilic  Emphasis  upon  the 
Individual ;  5.  The  Exilic  Emphasis  upon  the  Inwardness  of 
Religion;  6.  The  Exilic  Emphasis  upon  the  ''Righteousness  of 
the  Law";  %.  The  Exiles'  Ideal  of  Manhood;  8.  The  Holy- 
People  and  the  Gentile  World;  9.  The  Holy  People  and 
Their  King. 

I.  The  Exiles'  Sorrow  for  Sin 

Photographs  from  the  battlefields  of  Belgium  and  of 
France  have  given  us  a  vivid  picture  of  the  experiences  en- 
dured by  refugees  from  towns  and  villages  devastated  by  the 
Great  War.  These  refugees  have  been  cheered  on  their 
desolate  marches  by  the  certainty  of  friendly  hands  and  faces 
just  ahead.  The  exiles  from  Jerusalem  must  have  resembled 
more  nearly  those  pitiable  thousands  of  Armenians  who  were 
driven  from  their  homes  into  the  thirsty,  hungry  desert,  in 
1914-16. 

One  can  bear  a  heavy  load  upon  the  back  if  the  heart  is 
light.  But  the  heart's  load  was  for  the  Judean  exiles  heavier 
than  any  external  burden. 

Read  Lam.  4  for  a  picture  of  the  heart  of  Jerusalem  in  exile. 

The  book  of  Lamentations,  with  its  artificial  poetical  con- 
struction, could  hardly  have  been  written  in  the  first  days  of 
the  Exile ;  but  it  gives  us  a  graphic  and  apparently  early 
picture  of  the  tragedy  which  must  have  well-nigh  crushed  the 
bravest  hearts. 

Jehovah  hath   done  that  which   he  purposed;   he  hath 

fulfilled  his  word  that  he  commanded  in  the  days  of 

old; 
He  hath  thrown  down,  and  hath  not  pitied : 
And  he  hath  caused  the  enemy  to   rejoice  over  thee; 

he  hath  exalted  the  horn  of  thine  adversaries. 
Their  heart  cried  unto  the  Lord : 
O  wall  of  the  daugliter  of  Zion,  let  tears  run  down  like 

a  river  day  and  night; 

308 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XV-i] 

Give  thj^self  no  respite;  let  not  the  apple  of  thine  eye 

cease. 
Arise,   cry   out   in   the   night,   at   the   beginning   of   the 

watches ; 
Pour  out  thy  heart  like  water  before  the  face  of  the 

Lord  : 
Lift  up  thy  hands  toward  him  for  the  life  of  thy  young 

children,  that  faint  for  hunger  at  the  head  of  every 

street. 
See,  O  Jehovah,  and  behold  to  whom  thou  hast  done 

thus! 
Shall  the  women  eat  their   fruit,  the  children  that  are 

dandled  in  the  hands  ? 
Shall  the  priest  and  the  prophet  be  slain  in  the  sanctuary 

of  the  Lord? 
The  youth  and  the  old  man  lie  on  the  ground  in  the 

streets ; 
My  virgins  and  my  young  men  are  fallen  by  the  sword : 
Thou  hast  slain  them  in  the  day  of  thine  anger;  thou 

hast  slaughtered,  and  not  pitied. 

— Lam.  2  :  17-ji. 

The  exiles  could  not  forget  what  they  had  seen :  the  delicate 
women  who  had  fed  upon  their  own  children ;  their  king,  "the 
anointed  of  Jehovah,"  taken  in  the  pits;  the  priest  and  prophet 
slain  in  the  sanctuary;  the  very  stones  of  the  temple  poured 
out  at  the  head  of  every  street;  the  hateful  neighbor  nations, 
spectators,  clapping  their  hands,  jeering:  "Is  this  the  city 
that  men  called  The  perfection  of  beauty.  The  joy  of  the 
whole  earth?"   (Lam.  2  and  4). 

But  these  hounded  men  and  women,  dragging  their  little 
children  along  to  exile,  carried  in  their  hearts  something 
more  than  a  hideous  memory.  They  carried  the  burden  of 
communal  guilt.  "Thy  prophets  have  seen  for  thee  false  and 
foolish  visions"  (Lam.  2:  14). 

"It  is  because  of  the  sins  of  her  prophets,  and  the  iniquities 
of  her  priests,  that  have  shed  the  blood  of  the  just  in  the 
midst  of  her"  (Lam.  4:13),  Nor  could  the  people  find  any 
mitigation  of  guilt  in  the  thought  that  the  sins  were  those 
of  priests  and  prophets  only.  The  iniquity  was  that  of  the 
city,  "the  daughter  of  my  people."     The  conviction  weighed 

309 


[XV -2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

upon  every  exile,  that  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  was  the 
work  of  Jehovah.  Jehovah's  anger,  his  arm,  wrought  this 
ruin  of  sanctuary  and  city.  Like  the  sin  of  Sodom,  like  the 
sin  of  Samaria,  was  their  sin. 

Fifteenth  Week,  Second  Day. 

2.  The  Exiles'  Hope 

Not  upon  all  did  the  guilt  rest  so  heavily  as  did  the  misery 
of  the  time.  We  know  that  many  of  the  exiles  rose  to  places 
of  prominence  in  the  financial,  and  probably  the  political,  life 
of  the  Babylonian  empire.  Swiftly  struggling  out  of  the 
misery,  accommodating  himself  to  the  new  environment,  many 
a  Hebrew  became  of  the  earth  earthy.  Many,  too,  hung  their 
harps  on  the  willows,  wept  as  they  remembered  Zion,  and 
could  sing  neither  a  song  of  penitence  nor  of  hope.  But 
others  began  to  speak  of  a  Return  to  Zion,  a  Restored  Temple. 

This  hope  was  no  new  thing.  The  victims  of  the  First 
Exile,  597  B.  C,  were  constantly  befooled  by  false  prophets 
who  told  them  that  they  would  soon  return  to  Jerusalem. 
Both  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  had  warned  their  people  against 
ill-founded  hopes.  But  it  is  certain  that  even  before  the 
final  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  Jeremiah  had  cherished  the 
assurance  of  a  new  life  for  his  land  and  his  people. 

In  the  very  last  days  of  the  siege  of  the  city  the  prophet 
had  learned  that  his  duty  to  his  family  required  him  to  pur- 
chase a  certain  field  at  Anathoth,  his  old  homestead.  With 
proper  witnesses,  and  elaborate  legalities,  Jeremiah  purchased 
the  property.  One  reminds  us  of  the  story  of  Livy,  that  when 
Hannibal,  was  camping  within  three  miles  of  Rome,  the  very 
ground  on  which  he  camped  brought  a  good  price  at  auction 
in  the  Roman  forum.  The  significance  of  his  act  was  thus 
revealed  to  the  prophet : 

Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel :  Take 
these  deeds,  this  deed  of  the  purchase  which  is  sealed, 
and  this  deed  which  is  open,  and  put  them  in  an  earthen 
vessel;  that  they  may  continue  many  days.     For  thus 

310 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XV-2] 

saith  Jehovah  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel:  Houses  and 
fields  and  vineyards  shall  yet  again  be  bought  in  this 
land. — Jer.  32:  14,  15. 

"Many  a  people  had  been  swallowed  up  in  the  advance 
of  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  power  and  forever  lost.  .  .  . 
This  was  not  to  be  true  in  the  case  of  Judah.  The  Hebrew 
had  ideas  that  could  not  be  quenched,  and  these  carried  his 
person  into  a  life  that  would  not  die  among  men." 

The  hope  which  Jeremiah  cherished,  Ezekiel  cultivated  in 
the  seemingly  barren  soil  of  Babylon.  This  hope  we  may 
appreciate  somewhat  better  if  we  know  Ezekiel  a  little  better. 

Ezekiel,  as  we  have  seen,  was  one  of  those  carried  to  Baby- 
lon in  the  First  Exile.  After  studying  Jeremiah,  one  finds  the 
symbolism  of  Ezekiel's  visions  elaborate,  ornate.  But  there 
is  one  incident  of  the  man's  life,  which  brings  him  very  close 
to  us,  and  opens  to  us  his  heart. 

Also  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  unto  me,  saying,  Son 
of  man,  behold,  I  take  away  from  thee  the  desire  of 
thine  eyes  with  a  stroke :  yet  thou  shalt  neither  mourn 
nor  weep,  neither  shall  thy  tears  run  down.  Sigh,  but 
not  aloud,  make  no  mourning  for  the  dead ;  bind  thy 
headtire  upon  thee,  and  put  thy  shoes  upon  thy  feet, 
and  cover  not  thy  lips,  and  eat  not  the  bread  of  men. 
So  I  spake  unto  the  people  in  the  morning ;  and  at 
even  my  wife  died ;  and  I  did  in  the  morning  as  I  was 
commanded. — Ezek.  24:15-18. 

The  words  are  inefifably  sad.  The  man  loved  his  wife.  She 
had  been  the  desire  of  his  eyes.  But  no  personal  grief  must 
interfere  with  his  prophetic  service.  Nay,  his  sorrow  must 
serve.  "At  even  my  wife  died;  and  I  did  in  the  morning  as 
I  was  commanded."  The  incident  is  the  superlative  illustra- 
tion of  the  relationship  which  Ezekiel  believed  he  sustained 
to  his  God.  "The  hand  of  Jehovah  was  there  upon  me"; 
"The  spirit  lifted  me  up."  For  a  period  Jehovah  silenced  him, 
then  again  opened  his  lips.  He  thought  of  himself  as  a  watch- 
man, set  upon  the  city's  walls.     "When  the  sword  cometh,  it 

311 


[XV-2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

is  mine  to  blow  the  trumpet.  If  the  people  hear,  well  and 
good ;  if  they  laugh,  their  blood  is  on  their  own  heads." 

Ezekiel  was  the  pastor  of  the  exiles,  respected,  admired,  if 
not  at  first  obej^ed.  In  the  earlier  days  of  his  pastorate,  he 
preached  incessantly  against  the  false  prophets  who  insisted 
that  soon  Jehovah  must  bring  His  own  dear  children  back 
to  their  own  dear  city.  In  vision  after  vision  he  showed 
them  that  Jerusalem  must  be  destroyed.  In  his  sword  song, 
he  sang  of  Jehovah's  "terrible  swift  sword"  wielded  against 
the  whole  city.  In  one  of  his  superb  visions,  he  saw  Jehovah 
in  majesty  leaving  the  precincts  of  his  temple  defiled  by  sin 
(Ezek.   10 :  i8). 

But  when  at  last  the  ghastly  news  reached  the  earlier  exiles 
that  Jerusalem  had  actually  been  destroyed,  the  reputation 
of  the  prophet  was  established,  and  from  this  time  on, 
Ezekiel  began  to  breathe  into  the  hearts  of  his  comrades  a 
deathless  hope,  and  to  prepare  for  the  reconstruction  of  the 
city  according  to  the  divine  ideal. 

Most  impressive  is  the  picture  which  he  paints  of  the  valley 
of  dead  bones,  exceeding  dry,  quickened  by  the  breath  of 
Jehovah.  "Son  of  man,  these  bones  are  the  whole  house  of 
Israel." 

The  hand  of  Jehovah  was  upon  me,  and  he  brought 
me  out  in  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah,  and  set  me  down  in 
the  midst  of  the  valley;  and  it  was  full  of  bones.  And 
he  caused  me  to  pass  by  them  round  about :  and,  be- 
hold, there  were  very  many  in  the  open  valley ;  and,  lo, 
they  were  very  dry.  And  he  said  unto  me,  Son  of  man, 
can  these  bones  live?  And  I  answered,  O  Lord  Jeho- 
vah, thou  knowest.  Again  he  said  unto  me,  Prophesy 
over  these  bones,  and  say  unto  them,  O  ye  dry  bones, 
hear  the  word  of  Jehovah.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  Jeho- 
vah unto  these  bones :  Behold,  I  will  cause  breath  to 
enter  into  you,  and  ye  shall  live.  And  I  will  lay  sinews 
upon  you,  and  will  bring  up  flesh  upon  you,  and  cover 
you  with  skin,  and  put  breath  in  you,  and  ye  shall  live; 
and  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  Jehovah. 

So  I  prophesied  as  I  was  commanded :  and  as  I 
prophesied,  there  was  a  noise,  and,  behold,  an  earth- 
quake; and  the  bones  came  together,  bone  to  its  bone. 

312 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XV-3] 

And  I  beheld,  and,  lo,  there  were  sinews  upon  them, 
and  flesh  came  up,  and  skin  covered  them  above ;  but 
there  was  no  breath  in  them.  Then  said  he  unto  me, 
Prophesy  unto  the  wind,  prophesy,  son  of  man,  and  say 
to  the  wind.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah :  Come  from 
the  four  winds,  O  breath,  and  breathe  upon  these  slain, 
that  they  may  live.  So  I  prophesied  as  he  commanded 
me,  and  the  breath  came  into  them,  and  they  lived,  and 
stood  up  upon  their  feet,  an  exceeding  great  army. 
— Ezek.  ^y  :  i-io. 

A  writer  has  said :  "Isaiah  is  the  Milton,  Ezekiel  is  the 
Dante  of  the  Old  Testament."  With  the  vivid,  dramatic  detail 
of  Dante  does  Ezekiel  portray  his  earthly  paradise,  the  re- 
stored city  of  Jerusalem. 

Fifteenth  Week,  Third  Day. 

Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye  my  people,  saith  your  God. 
Speak  ye  comfortably  to  Jerusalem ;  and  cry  unto  her, 
that  her  warfare  is  accomplished,  that  her  iniquity  is 
pardoned,  that  she  hath  received  of  Jehovah's  hand 
double  for  all  her  sins. 

The  voice  of  one  that  crieth.  Prepare  ye  in  the  wilder- 
ness the  way  of  Jehovah ;  make  level  in  the  desert  a 
highway  for  our  God.  Every  valley  shall  be  exalted, 
and  every  mountain  and  hill  shall  be  made  low ;  and 
the  uneven  shall  be  made  level,  and  the  rough  places 
a  plain  :  and  the  glory  of  Jehovah  shall  be  revealed,  and 
all  flesh  shall  see  it  together ;  for  the  mouth  of  Jehovah 
hath  spoken  it. 

The  voice  of  one  saying.  Cry.  And  one  said.  What 
shall  I  cry?  All  flesh  is  grass,  and  all  the  goodliness 
thereof  is  as  the  flower  of  the  field.  The  grass  wither- 
eth,  the  flower  fadeth,  because  the  breath  of  Jehovah 
bloweth  upon  it;  surely  the  people  is  grass.  The  grass 
withereth,  the  flower  fadeth;  but  the  word  of  our  God 
shall  stand  forever. 

O  thou  that  tellest  good  tidings  to  Zion,  get  thee  up 
on  a  high  mountain  ;  O  thou  that  tellest  good  tidings 
to  Jerusalem,  lift  up  thy  voice  with  strength ;  lift  it 
up,  be  not  afraid  ;  say  unto  the  cities  of  Judah.  Behold, 
your  God !  Behold,  the  Lord  Jehovah  will  come  as  a 
mighty  one.  and  his  arm  will  rule  for  him :  Behold, 
his  reward  is  with  him,  and  his  recompense  before  him. 

313 


[XV -3]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

He  will  feed  his  flock  like  a  shepherd,  he  will  gather 
the  lambs  in  his  arm,  and  carry  them  in  his  bosom,  and 
will  gently  lead  those  that  have  their  young. — Isa. 
40:  i-ii. 

It  is  supposed  that  Ezekiel  died  c.  572  B.  C,  but  the  hope 
he  cherished  was  not  buried  in  his  sepulcher.  The  exiles 
listened  also  to  the  messages  of  one  perhaps  greater  if  not 
more  influential  than '  Ezekiel,  the  unknown  "Prophet  of  the 
Exile. "^  To  people  who  felt  themselves  victims  of  their  own 
and  their  fathers'  sins,  the  prophet  told  the  glad  news  that  the 
warfare  of  Jerusalem  had  been  accomplished,  that  her  iniquity 
had  been  pardoned.  To  hearts  homesick  for  Jerusalem  he 
spoke  of  the  king's  highway  through  the  wilderness,  which 
they  were  to  prepare.  To  those  who  had  seen  every  vision 
fail,  who  saw  their  fathers  and  friends  and  little  children 
wither  as  the  grass,  fade  as  the  flower,  he  said,  "Yes,  that  is 
all  true;  but  the  word  of  our  God  shall  stand  forever." 

With  the  fearlessness  of  faith,  the  man  sang  of  the  great 
Shepherd  who  should  lead  his  flock,  and  gather  the  lambs  in 
his  bosom,  and  gently  lead  those  who  have  their  young. 

3.  The  Grounds  of  Hope 

But  why  should  prophets  in  Babylon  even  dare  to  dream 
of  a  return  to  Zion?  Did  their  hope  differ  from  that  of  the 
false  prophets?  The  foundations  of  their  hope  were  partly 
political,  but  mainly  religious. 

a.  The  Political  Grounds  of  Hope. 

In  562-561  B.  C.  Nebuchadrezzar,  warrior  and  builder  of 
temples,  palaces,  defenses,  and  empires,  died,  leaving  his 
throne  to  a  son,  who  profoundly  stirred  the  hearts  of  the 
Hebrew  exiles  by  lifting  up  "the  head  of  Jehoiachin  king 
of  Judah,  out  of  prison  .  .  .  and  he  changed  his  prison 
garments.     And   Jehoiachin    did   eat   bread   before   him   con- 

•  It  is  assumed  that  Chapters  40  to  54  of  Isaiah  are  exilic.  Kent  and  other 
writers  would  throw  most  of  this  material  into  the  period  following  the  Exile. 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XV-3] 

tinually  all  the  days  of  his  life"  (II  Kings  25:27-30).  Might 
not  this  liberation  of  a  Jewish  king  be  the  beginning  of  the 
end  of  sorrows? 

But  "in  the  second  full  year  of  his  reign"  the  new  king  of 
Babylon  was  assassinated.  Death  and  intrigue  had  their  way 
for  a  while  until  556  B.  C,  when  Nabonidus  came  to  the 
throne.  The  new  sovereign  devoted  his  time  to  the  rebuild- 
ing of  ancient  temples,  and  seems  to  have  surrendered  the 
actual  control  of  the  state  to  his  son,  Bel-shar-usur,  the 
biblical  Belshazzar.  Meanwhile  there  had  arisen  to  the 
northeast  of  Babylonia  a  remarkable  man,  Cyrus,  king  of 
Anshan.  With  miraculous  energy  he  made  himself  king  of 
Manda,  and  called  himself  king  of  the  Parsu  (from  which 
comes  our  word  "Persians").  Croesus  of  Lydia  summoned 
against  this  new  military  genius  Egyptians,  Babylonians,  and 
even  Spartans  from  the  distant  west;  but  soon  Cyrus  was  the 
master  of  Croesus  himself.  He  then  proceeded  against  "Baby- 
lon, the  strongest  fortress  in  the  world."  Nabonidus  hurried 
the  gods  of  all  the  land  for  safety  to  the  royal  city,  but  seems 
to  have  made  no  attempt  to  defend  his  empire.  Cyrns's  army 
entered  the  open  gates  of  the  capital  without  battle  and  Cyrus 
himself  was  given  the  plaudits  of  the  peoples. 

"Never  from  that  hour  until  the  age  of  Islam  was  a 
Semitic  power  to  command  a  world-wide  empire.  The  glory 
of  Babylon  is  ended.  ...  No  city  so  vast  had  stood  on  the 
world  before.  No  city  with  a  history  so  long  has  even  yet 
appeared.  ...  It  would  soon  be  a  shapeless  mass  of  ruins, 
standing  alone  in  a  sad,  untilled  desert."' 

The  practice  of  Cyrus  was  to  make  his  subjects  his  friends. 
He  also  did  his  best  to  make  the  subject  gods  his  friends. 
He  writes:  "Marduk,  the  great  lord,  rejoiced  in  my  pious 
deeds,  and  graciously  blessed  me."  He  goes  on  to  say  that  he 
returned  to  their  homes  the  deities  captured  by  the  Babylonian 
kings.     "The  gods,   who   dwelt   in   them    [various   conquered 


2  Condensed  from  "History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,"  by  Rogers.  Vol.  II, 
p.  366fif. 


[XV -3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

cities],  I  collected  and  restored  them  to  their  dwelling  places."' 
Surely,  then,  the  exiles,  whose  treasure  and  whose  hearts 
were  in  Jerusalem,  whose  God  loved  the  gates  of  Zion,  had 
a  right  to  see  in  the  amazing  progress  of  Cyrus,  the  new 
world  hero,  Jehovah's  instrument  of  speedy  redemption  and 
restoration. 

With  an  ecstasy  of  triumph,  the  unknown  prophet  points 
to  Cyrus,  as  he  marches  on  conquering  and  to  conquer.  "Who 
hath  raised  up  one  from  the  east,  whom  he  calleth  in  righteous- 
ness to  his  foot?  he  giveth  nations  before  him,  and  maketh 
him  rule  over  kings ;  he  giveth  them  as  the  dust  to  his  sword, 
as  the  driven  stubble  to  his  bow"  (Isa.  41:2;  cf.  41:25). 
Cyrus  is  Jehovah's  shepherd,  who  shall  perform  all  Jehovah's 
pleasure,  and  Jehovah  hath  said  of  Jerusalem,  she  shall  be 
built,  and  of  the  temple.  Thy  foundation  shall  be  laid  (44: 
28).  The  prophet  sings  of  Cyrus,  anointed  of  Jehovah,  sur- 
named  indeed  by  Jehovah,  although  he  does  not  know  him. 
All  unconscious  of  his  divine  commission,  Cyrus  is  going  to 
make  the  rough  places  smooth,  and  to  break  in  pieces  the 
doors  of  brass,  all  for  the  liberty  and  the  glad  home-coming 
of  Jehovah's  people.* 

Thus  saith  Jehovah  to  his  anointed,  to  Cyrus,  whose 
right  hand  I  have  holden,  to  subdue  nations  before 
him,  and  I  will  loose  the  loins  of  kings;  to  open  the 
doors  before  him,  and  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut :  I 
will  go  before  thee,  and  make  the  rough  places  smooth ; 
I  will  break  in  pieces  the  doors  of  brass,  and  cut  in 
sunder  the  bars  of  iron  ;  and  I  will  give  thee  the  treas- 
ures of  darkness,  and  hidden  riches  of  secret  places, 
that  thou  mayest  know  that  it  is  I,  Jehovah,  who  call 
thee  by  thy  name,  even  the  God  of  Israel.  For  Jacob 
my  servant's  sake,  and  Israel  my  chosen,  I  have  called 
thee  by  thy  name :  I  have  surnamed  thee,  though  thou 
hast  not  known  me.  I  am  Jehovah,  and  there  is  none 
else;  besides  me  there  is  no  God.  I  will  gird  thee, 
though  thou  hast  not  known  me. — Isa,  45 :  1-5. 


3  "Cuneiform  Parallels,"  p.  3825. 

^  But  see  His.  Bi.,  Vol.  IV,  p.  62,  for  view  that  the  word  "Cyrus"  is  inter- 
polated, and  that  this,  like  the  other  prophecies  of  Chapters  40  to  66,  is  post- 
exilic. 

316 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES       [XV-4] 

Fifteenth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

b.  The  Religious  Grounds  of  Hope. 

The  exiles'  hope  of  return  to  Jerusalem  had  a  purely  reli- 
gious as  well  as  a  political  foundation.  As  we  have  seen,  the 
hope  was  cherished  before  Cyrus  appeared  above  the  horizon. 
The  hope  was  based  upon  the  character  of  God,  as  conceived 
by  Ezekiel  and  his  prophetic  friends.  To  understand  their 
ground  of  hope,  we  may  turn  first  to  Ezekiel  16,  which  has 
been  called  the  prophet's  "most  evangelical  chapter."  Of  it 
a  writer  says :  "There  is  none  in  the  Book  of  Ezekiel,  at 
once  so  powerful,  and  so  full  of  religious  significance  as  the 
picture  of  Jerusalem,  the  foundling  child,  the  unfaithful 
spouse,  the  abandoned  prostitute."  Let  us  look  at  the  pic- 
ture. Jerusalem,  a  little  outcast  child  with  no  claims  and  no 
rights,  is  left  unpitied,  untended,  in  the  open  field.  Jehovah 
sees  her,  cares  for  her  through  the  growing  years,  at  last 
makes  ^er  his  bride,  bestows  upon  her  glorious  adornments, 
luxurious  food.  But  she  gives  herself  over  to  the  impure 
love  of  other  deities,  uses  Jehovah's  love-gifts  as  love-offer- 
ings to  these  new  lovers ;  yes,  she  takes  the  children  which 
she  has  borne  to  Jehovah  and  slays  them,  delivers  them  up 
as  sacrifices  to  her  lovers.  She  actually  pays  for  her  harlotry, 
until  her  heathen  alliances  bring  her  to  utter  poverty.  What 
shall  be  her  punishment?  All  her  lovers  shall  turn  upon  her, 
strip  her,  and  stone  her.  Thus  does  Ezekiel  with  stern  realism 
compel  us  to  walk  in  the  same  circle  of  ideas  as  did  Hosea. 
But  now  he  goes  further.  He  brings  Jerusalem  into  contrast 
with  Samaria,  even  with  Sodom.  These  were  not  as  wicked 
as  Jerusalem.  Jerusalem  has  made  the  sin  of  Samaria,  the 
sin  of  Sodom  itself,  to  seem  but  a  light  thing,  and  has  com- 
forted them  in  the  thought  that  their  sins  have  been  innocu- 
ous. But  there  is  a  brighter  side  of  the  picture.  Samaria  is 
to  be  restored,  even  Sodom  is  to  be  restored.  And  Jerusalem, 
sin-sick  at  last,  stirred  to  shame  by  the  sight  of  her  cleansed 
and  restored  "sisters,"  will  be  forgiven.     Incredible  as  it  may 

317 


[XV-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

seem,    Jehovah    will    establish   his    everlasting   covenant    with 
her,  and  restore  her  to  her  ancient  glory. 

The  teaching  of  the  passage  is  very  great.  The  basest  of 
all  sins  is  the  sin  of  ingratitude.  Sin  and  suffering  grow  from 
the  same  stem. 

"And  sorrow  tracketh  wrong 
As  echo  follows  song. 
On,  on,  on." 

But  hope  is  not  dead,  because  God  is  good.  The  most 
loathsome  and  ruined  portions  of  God's  world  are  not  ex- 
cluded from  the  range  and  redemptive  purpose  of  God's  love. 
Sodom  herself,  the  very  synonym  of  sin's  doom,  is  to  be 
saved. 

Furthermore,  the  redemption  of  those  utterly  "lost"  will 
stir  to  shame  the  sinners,  who  have  been  the  more  favored 
recipients  of  God's  mercies,  and  will  lead  them  to  penitence, 
which  leads  to  salvation.  Ezekiel  here  has  a  glimpse  of  that 
vision  which  was  one  day  to  thrill  and  satisfy  the  question- 
ing heart  of  Paul,  as  he  looked  out  upon  the  unbelief  of  his 
own  people  and  the  acceptance  of  Christianity  by  the  Gentiles. 
Paul  held  that  the  Gentiles  would  be  saved  and  that  their 
.-.alvation  would  inspire  Israel  to  godly  jealousy,  which  would 
lead  them  in  their  turn  to  the  feet  of  Paul's  Master,  Christ 
(Rom.  10,  ii). 

To  Ezekiel  the  restoration  of  his  people  and  of  his  city 
was  not  an  item  in  the  policy  of  this  or  that  king ;  nor  yet 
v/as  it  to  be  at  all  a  reward  of  Israel's  virtue;  nor  yet  was 
it — as  the  false  prophets  supposed — a  necessity  to  the  con- 
tinuance of  Jehovah's  rule  and  worship  in  the  world.  The 
hope  was  founded  upon  his  conviction  of  Jehovah's  self- 
consistency,  as  a  God  of  amazing,  forgiving,  redeeming  love 
(Ezek.  36:  22,  32). 

The  Prophet  of  the  Exile,  who  seemed  to  stake  his  hope 
so  largely  upon  the  political  achievements  of  Cyrus,  accounted 
Cyrus  only  as  one  instrument  of  Jehovah,  the  sovereign,  the 
eternal,  the  unchangeable,  the  loving. 

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EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XV-5I 

When  a  friend  flouted  the  poet  Sill  upon  the  futility  of 
"words,  words,  words,"  the  poet  was  tempted  at  first  to  grant 
their  futility,  but  checked  himself: 

"Nay,  they  do  bear  a  blessing  and  a  power, — 
Great  words  and  true,  that  bridge  from  soul  to  soul 
The  awful  cloud-depths  that  betwixt  us  roll. 
I  will  not  have  them  so  blasphemed.    This  hour, 

This  little  hour  of  life,  this  lean  to-day, — 
What  were  it  worth  but  for  those  mighty  dreams 
That  sweep  from  down  the  past  on  sounding  streams 
Of  such  high-thoughted  words  as  poets  say? 

What,  but  for  Shakespeare's  and  for  Homer's  lay. 
And  bards  whose  sacred  names  all  lips  repeat?  • 
Words, — only  words ;  yet,  save  for  tongue  and  pen 

Of  those  great  givers  of  them  unto  men. 

And  burdens  they  still  bear  of  grave  and  sweet, 

This  world  were  but  for  beasts,  a  darkling  den." 

Fifteenth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

Read  Isa.  40:13-31.  With  its  sublime  conviction  of  the  one 
universal,  strong,  and  loving  God,  it  is  a  passage  of  divine 
beauty. 

Of  all  the  words  which  have  helped  to  save  the  world  from 
being  a  den  for  beasts,  the  words  of  the  unknown  Prophet 
of  the  Exile  have  been  among  those  most  richly  freighted 
with  blessing  and  with  power.  Consider  the  prophet's  concep- 
tion of  God,  which  assured  him  that  God  must  bring  His 
people  home. 

Take  his  thought  of  the  sovereignty  of  Jehovah. 

Who  hath  measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his 
hand,  and  meted  out  heaven  with  the  span,  and  com- 
prehended the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a  measure,  and 
weighed  the  mountains  in  scales,  and  the  hills  in  a 
balance?— ^Isa.  40:  12. 

This  God  of  the  prophet  created  the  stars,  brings  out  their 
hosts    by    number,    calls    each    one    of    them    by    name.      He 

319 


[XV-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

stretches  out  the  heavens  as  a  curtain  or  gauze,  spreads  them 
out  as  a  tent  to  dwell  in  (40:22,  26).  He  makes  a  way  in 
the  sea,  a  path  in  the  mighty  waters  (43:  16). 

Sovereign  of  nature,  the  prophet's  God  is  the  sovereign 
of  nations  and  men.  The  mightiest  warrior  of  the  "heathen" 
world  is  anointed  to  do  his  pleasure  (45:  13).  He  brings 
princes  to  nothing,  makes  the  judges  of  the  earth  as  vanity; 
he  blows  upon  them,  and  they  wither,  and  the  whirlwind 
takes  them  away  as  stubble. 

Or  study  the  prophet's  thought  of  the  eternity  and  the  un- 
changeableness  of  Jehovah.  He  is  the  first  and  the  last;  he 
faints  not,  and  is  never  weary.  He  has  his  plans,  stretching 
back  to  the  beginning,  to  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  and 
stretching  forward  into  the  ages  of  ages. 

Before  me  there  was  no  God  formed,  neither  shall 
there  be  after  me.  I,  even  I,  am  Jehovah ;  and  besides 
me  there  is  no  saviour.  I  have  declared,  and  I  have 
saved,  and  I  have  showed.  .  .  .  Yea,  since  the  day  was 
I  am  he ;  and  there  is  none  that  can  deliver  out  of  my 
hand:  I  will  work,  and  who  can  hinder  it? — Isa.  43: 
10-13.  Cf.  40 :  28. 

Again,  study  the  prophet's  conception  of  Jehovah's  love. 
It  is  a  love  which  means  strong  deliverance. 

O  Israel,  thou  shalt  not  be  forgotten  of  me.  I  have 
blotted  out,  as  a  thick  cloud,  thy  transgressions,  and, 
as  a  cloud,  thy  sins.  ... 

I,  even  I,  am  he  that  blotteth  out  thy  transgressions 
for  mine  own  sake ;  and  I  will  not  remember  thy  sins. 
—Isa.  44:21,  22;  43:25. 

It  is  a  love  which  means  saving  companionship. 

When  thou  passest  through  the  waters,  I  will  be  with 
thee ;  and  through  the  rivers,  they  shall  not  overflow 
thee:  when  thou  walkest  through  the  fire,  ihou  shalt 
not  be  burned,  neither  shall  the  flame  kindle  upon  thee. 
— Isa.  43  :  2,  cf.  41 :  10. 

He  giveth  power  to  the  faint ;  and  to  him  that  hath 
no  might  he  increaseth  strength.  Even  the  youths  shall 
faint  and  be  weary,  and  the  young  men   shall  utterly 

320 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XV-5] 

fall:  but  they  that  wait  for  Jehovah  shall  renew  their 
strength ;  they  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles ; 
they  shall  run,  and  not  be  weary;  they  shall  walk,  and 
not  faint. — Isa.  40:29-31. 

There  is  no  chance  for  "foreign  gods"  in  this  man's 
theology.  There  are  no  "vacant  spaces"  in  his  universe, 
where  little  deities  can  find  room  to  rule  and  curse  men.  He 
is  a  magnificent  monotheist.  In  words  which  Hosea  would 
have  enjoyed,  he  derides  the  idol-maker  at  his  work: 

He  heweth  him  down  cedars,  and  taketh  the  holm- 
tree  and  the  oak,  and  strengtheneth  for  himself  one 
among  the  trees  of  the  forest :  he  planteth  a  fir-tree,  and 
the  rain  doth  nourish  it.  Then  shall  it  be  for  a  man  to 
burn;  and  he  taketh  thereof,  and  warmeth  himself; 
yea,  he  kindleth  it,  and  baketh  bread:  yea,  he  maketh 
a  god,  and  worshippeth  it ;  he  maketh  it  a  graven  image, 
and  falleth  down  thereto.  He  burneth  part  thereof 
in  the  fire :  with  part  thereof  he  eateth  flesh ;  he 
roasteth  roast,  and  is  satisfied ;  yea,  he  warmeth  him- 
self, and  saith,  Aha,  I  am  warm,  I  have  seen  the  fire. 
And  the  residue  thereof  he  maketh  a  god,  even  his 
graven  image ;  he  falleth  down  unto  it  and  worshippeth, 
and  prayeth  unto  it,  and  saith.  Deliver  me ;  for  th'ou  art 
my  god.  .  .  .  And  none  calleth  to  mind,  neither  is  there 
knov/ledge  nor  understanding  to  say,  I  have  burned 
part  of  it  in  the  fire ;  yea,  also  I  have  baked  bread  upon 
the  coals  thereof;  I  have  roasted  flesh  and  eaten  it:  and 
shall  I  make  the  residue  thereof  an  abomination?  shall 
I  fall  down  to  the  stock  of  a  tree?  He  feedeth  on 
ashes  ;  a  deceived  heart  hath  turned  him  aside  ;  and  he 
cannot  deliver  his  soul,  nor  say,  Is  there  not  a  lie  in  my 
right  hand? — Isa.  44:  14-17,  19,  20. 

He  loves  to  watch  the  poor  old  Babylonian  idols,  weighing 
down  the  beasts  that  carry  them  off  into  captivity ;  and  then 
with  mighty  oratory  and  conviction  he  cries  in  God's  name: 

Hearken  unto  me,  O  house  of  Jacob,  and  all  the 
remnant  of  the  house  of  Israel,  that  have  been  borne  by 
me  from  their  birth,  that  have  been  carried  from  the 
womb ;  and  even  to  old  age  I  am  he,  and  even  to  hoar 
hairs  will  I  carry  you :  I  have  made,  and  I  will  bear ; 
yea,  I  will  carry,  and  will  deliver. — Isa.  46 :  3,  4. 

321 


[XV-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

And  beneath  his  withering,  exultant  words,  the  magnificent 
gold-covered  gods  of  the  city  of  Babylon  become  stolid 
lumps  of  stone,  or  "chunks"  of  wood,  to  "stay  put"  wherever 
they  are  placed,  and  to  burden  any  one  who  worships  them ; 
while  Jehovah  rises  before  the  vision  as  the  great  burden- 
bearer  of  men,  loving,  lifting,  carrying. 

"When  through  the  deep  waters  I  call  thee  to  go, 
The  rivers  of  woe  shall  not  thee  overflow ; 
For  I  will  be  with  thee  thy  troubles  to  bless, 
And  sanctify  to  thee  thy  deepest  distress. 

When  through  fiery  trials  thy  pathway  shall  lie, 
My  grace,  all-sufficient,  shall  be  thy  supply ; 
The  flames  shall  not  hurt  thee;  I  only  design 
Thy  dross  to  consume,  and  thy  gold  to  refine. 

E'en  down  to  old  age  all  My  people  shall  prove 
My  sovereign,  eternal,  unchangeable  love : 
And  when  hoary  hairs  shall  their  temples  adorn. 
Like  lambs  they  shall  still  in  My  bosom  be  borne." 

It  was,  then,  the  character  of  Jehovah,  rather  than  the 
character  of  Cyrus,  which  quickened  the  hope  of  the  prophet 
that  God"  himself  would  build  the  City  Beautiful. 

O  thou  afflicted,  tossed  with  tempest,  and  not  com- 
forted, behold,  I  will  set  thy  stones  in  fair  colors,  and 
lay  thy  foundations  with  sapphires.  And  I  will  make 
thy  pinnacles  of  rubies,  and  thy  gates  of  carbuncles, 
and  all  thy  border  of  precious  stones.  And  all  thy  chil- 
dren shall  be  taught  of  Jehovah  ;  and  great  shall  be  the 
peace  of  thy  children.  In  righteousness  shalt  thou  be 
established :  thou  shalt  be  far  from  oppression,  for  thou 
shalt  not  fear  ;  and  from  terror,  for  it  shall  not  come 
near  thee. — Isa.  54:  11 -14. 

Fifteenth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

Read  Ezek.   18,  sometimes  called  the  Magna  Charta  of  per- 
sonal religion. 

The  prophetic  hope  of  return,  based  thus  largely  upon  the 
prophetic  faith  in  a  God  of  character,  became  a  mighty  appeal 
to  repentance  and  character  on  the  part  of  the  exiles.     The 

3-^2 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XV-6] 

hope  joined  with  other  factors  in  placing  new  emphasis  upon 
the  individual,  upon  the  importance  of  the  inwardness  of  reli- 
gion, and  at  the  same  time  the  importance  of  ritual. 

4.  The  Exilic  Emphasis  upon  the  Individual 

The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die:  the  son  shall  not 
bear  the  iniquity  of  the  father,  neither  shaU  the  father 
bear  the  iniquity  of  the  son;  the  righteousness  of  the 
righteous  shall  be  upon  him,  and  the  wickedness  of  the 
wicked  shall  be  upon  him. 

But  if  the  wicked  turn  from  all  his  sins  that  he  hath 
committed,  and  keep  all  my  statutes,  and  do  that  which 
is  lawful  and  right,  he  shall  surely  live,  he  shall  not  die. 
None  of  his  transgressions  that  he  hath  committed  shall 
be  remembered  against  him :  in  his  righteousness  that  he 
hath  done  he  shall  live.  Have  I  any  pleasure  in  the 
death  of  the  wicked?  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah;  and  not 
rather  that  he  should  return  from  his  way,  and  live? 
But  when  the  righteous  turneth  away  from  his  right- 
eousness, and  committeth  iniquity,  and  doeth  according 
to  all  the  abominations  that  the  wicked  man  doeth,  shall 
he  live?  None  of  his  righteous  deeds  that  he  hath  done 
shall  be  remembered :  in  his  trespass  that  he  hath  tres- 
passed, and  in  his  sin  that  he  hath  sinned,  in  them  shall 
he   die. 

Yet  ye  say,  The  way  of  the  Lord  is  not  equal.  Hear 
now,  O  house  of  Israel:  Is  not  my  way  equal?  are  not 
your  ways  unequal  ? — Ezek.  18 :  20-25. 

The  great  hope  was  itself  a  winnowing  fan.  Many  a  well- 
to-do  exile  would  say :  "Babylon  is  good  enough  for  me.  I 
am  a  cosmopolite.  I  have  no  special  interest  in  a  Zionist 
movement."  The  appeal  of  the  hope,  therefore,  tended  to 
liberate  the  individual  from  the  mass.  But  experience  as  well 
as  hope  worked  in  the  same  direction.  The  Exile  had  torn  its 
victims  from  the  temple,  from  all  the  old  moorings  of  com- 
munal religion.  Many  a  child  had  been  snatched  from  his 
parents,  many  a  father  from  his  family.  Thus  the  old  unity, 
the  old  solidarity  of  Oriental  life  had  been  broken  up,  and 
the  individual  emerged. 

Further,  tire  hideous  wrongs  of  the  Exile  after  a  time  led 


[XV-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

its  victims  to  feel  that  they  were  caught  in  the  mesh  and 
tangle  of  their  fathers'  sins.  The  individual  came  to  feel  that 
he,  he,  the  man,  was  not  getting  a  square  deal.  "The  way 
of  the  Lord  is  not  equal."  "The  fathers  have  eaten  sour 
grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge"  (Ezek.  i8: 
25,  2).  If  the  men  who  cause  a  world  war  could  all  be  taken 
to  a  desert  island,  which  should  then  be  swept  by  a  tidal 
wave,  there  would  be  some  poetic  justice  in  Jehovah's  deal- 
ings with  men  I  We  have  already  noticed  that  before  the 
Exile  there  was  a  revolt  against  the  criminal  code  which 
dragged  the  family  of  Achan  with  him  to  death.  We  ob- 
served that  the  Deuteronomic  Code,  while  not  self-consistent, 
aimed  to  give  effect  to  more  human  thought  (p.  26y).  Now 
the  exiles  who  rebelled  against  the  injustice  of  an  earthly 
judge  who  should  involve  in  punishment  all  the  relatives  of  a 
guilty  man,  felt  that  Jehovah  himself  was  acting  the  part  of 
the  unjust  judge.  They  were  doubtless  sinners,  but  they  felt 
that  their  sufferings  were  utterly  disproportionate  to  their 
sins. 

In  Jeremiah  31:29,  we  find  the  expression  of  the  thought 
that  one  day  the  individual  is  to  have  a  chance :  "In  those 
days  they  shall  say  no  more,  The  fathers  have  eaten  sour 
grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge.  But  every 
one  shall  die  for  his  own  iniquity :  every  man  that  eateth  sour 
grapes,  his  teeth  shall  be  set  on  edge." 

Ezekiel  as  pastor  of  the  exiles  faced,  not  a  nation,  but 
individuals,  multitudes  of  them,  who  said  quite  simply  and 
quite  undeniably:  "Our  fathers  sinned,  and  are  not,  and  we 
bear  their  iniquities."  Ezekiel  did  his  best  to  answer  them. 
He  started  with  the  assertion,  in  Jehovah's  name :  "All  souls 
are  mine."  Each  man  stands  in  immediate  relation  to  God. 
If  a  man  is  just,  he  shall  live.  But  if  this  man  have  a  son 
who  is  unjust,  the  son  shall  die,  his  blood  shall  be  upon  him. 
Now  if  this  son  beget  a  son,  who  sees  his  father's  evil  ways, 
and  turns  to  righteousness ;  then  he  shall  not  die  for  the 
iniquity  of  his  father,  he  shall  surely  live.  In  a  word,  no  man 
can  be  damned  or   saved  by  the  deeds  of   his   fMher  or  his 

324 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XV-7] 

son.  A  man's  own  sins  alone  can  ruin  him ;  his  own  re- 
pentance can  assure  him  Hfe-giving  relations  to  God  (Ezek. 
18).  _ 

It  is  not  probable  that  Ezekiel's  words  gave  complete  satis- 
faction to  his  hearers.  The  facts  apparently  gave  the  lie  to 
the  brave  words.  Nor  can  they  satisfy  us,  unless  we  live  in 
the  realm  of  the  psalmist's  thought,  who  was  able  to  say: 

Thou  wilt  guide  me  with  thy  counsel, 
And  afterward  receive  me  to  glory. 
Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  thee? 

And  there  is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  besides  thee. 
My  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth  ; 

But  God  is  the  strength  of  my  heart  and  my  portion  for  ever. 

— Psalm  72, :  24-26, 

The  prophet  could  have  argued  more  effectively  if  he  had 
been  able  to  name  the  name  Eternity.  But  Ezekiel  18  has  had 
great  influence  upon  the  religious  thinking  of  the  world,  and, 
as  said  above,  has  been  called  a  kind  of  Magna  Charta  of 
personal  religion. 

The  liberation  of  the  individual  spirit  from  the  prison  house 
of  communal  custom,  tradition,  cruelty,  has  been  a  slow  and 
incomplete  process.  "Hath  any  of  the  rulers  believed  on 
him,  or  of  the  Pharisees?"  "Hath  any  of  the  members  of 
my  lodge,  my  fraternity,  my  sorority,  believed  on  him?"  So 
we  still  make  the  crowd,  or  the  ancient  custom,  or  the  ancient 
communal  creed  our  jailer. 

"To  his  own  master,  each  man  standeth  or  faileth." 

This  is  the  message  of  Ezekiel. 

Fifteenth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

5.  The  Exilic  Emphasis  upon  the  Inwardness  of 
Religion 

Read  Ezek.  36 :  22-38,  a  memorable  prophecy  of  the  religion 
of  spirit. 

As  the  exiles  were  led  by  their  hope  and  by  their  experience 

32s 


[XV-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

to  a  new  emphasis  upon  the  individual,  some  of  them  cer- 
tainly were  led  to  a  new  emphasis  upon  the  inwardness  of 
true  religion. 

They  had  brought  across  the  desert  to  Babylon  the  manu- 
scripts of  the  ancient  story  of  their  people;  they  probably  held 
as  cherished  possessions  the  writings  of  the  great  prophets 
of  northern  Israel  and  Judah.  Far  away  from  the  active, 
eager  life  of  Jerusalem,  the  exiles  became  a  literary  people, 
working  over,  commenting  upon,  altering  the  messages  of 
their  national  literature.  Perhaps  the  central  teaching  of  all 
that  literature,  not  excepting  the  legal  codes,  may  be  sum- 
marized in  this :  True  religion  is  not  a  matter  of  ceremonial- 
ism but  of  character. 

The  earlier  exiles  were  in  frequent  correspondence  with 
Jeremiah.  His  religion,  utterly  distinct  from  ritual,  must 
have  made  a  deep  impression  upon  all  who  knew  him.  In  a 
prophecy  embedded  in  the  book  of  Jeremiah  there  is  a  re- 
markable passage  which  reads :  "And  it  shall  come  to  pass, 
when  ye  are  multiplied  and  increased  in  the  land,  in  those 
days,  saith  Jehovah,  they  shall  say  no  more,  The  ark  of  the 
covenant  of  Jehovah ;  neither  shall  it  come  to  mind ;  neither 
shall  they  remember  it;  neither  shall  they  miss  it;  neither 
shall  it  be  made  any  more"  (Jer.  3:16).  The  ancient  ark 
was  apparently  carried  away  into  Babylon  by  Nebuchadrezzar, 
and  seems  never  to  have  been  seen  by  the  Hebrews  in  the 
aftertime.  The  prophecy,  while  not  certainly  by  Jeremiah, 
is  true  to  his  spirit  and  tendency.  It  means  this :  That  ark, 
which  in  the  olden  times  was  regarded  as  the  "focus  of  divine 
energies,"  that  ark  which  was  the  center  of  religion,  in  the 
good  time  coming  would  not  even  be  thought  of,  nor  remem- 
bered. Religion  would  be  able  to  get  along  without  that 
which  had  been  conceived  as  its  very  heart. 

But  perhaps  the  most  influential  expression  of  the  thought 
of  the  inwardness  of  religion  is  given  us  in  another  passage 
of  Jeremiah,  of  which  Driver  says :  "In  spirituality  and  pro- 
fundity of  insight,  Jeremiah  here  surpasses  every  other 
prophet  of  the  Old   Testament."     Whether  written  by  Jere- 

326 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XV-7] 

miah  or  by  a  son  of  his  spirit,  the  words  well  deserve  the 
praise.'' 

Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  Jehovah,  that  I  will 
make  a  new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel,  and  with 
the  house  of  Judah  :  not  according  to  the  covenant  that 
I  made  with  their  fathers  in  the  day  that  I  took  them 
by  the  hand  to  bring  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt; 
which  my  covenant  they  brake,  although  I  was  a  hus- 
band unto  them,  saith  Jehovah.  But  this  is  the  covenant 
that  I  will,  make  with  the  house  of  Israel  after  those 
days,  saith  Jehovah :  I  will  put  my  law  in  their  inward 
parts,  and  in  their  heart  will  I  write  it;  and  I  will  be 
their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people.  And  they  shall 
teach  no  more  every  man  his  neighbor,  and  every  man 
his  brother,  saying.  Know  Jehovah ;  for  they  shall  all 
know  me,  from  the  least  of  them  unto  the  greatest  of 
them,  saith  Jehovah :  for  I  will  forgive  their  iniquity, 
and  their  sin  will  I  remember  no  more. — Jer.  31  :  31-34. 

The  passage  sends  our  thoughts  back  to  the  day  when 
Moses  and  his  people  are  said  to  have  ratified  with  blood 
their  covenant  with  Jehovah — that  contract  whose  human 
obligations  were  set  down  on  tables  of  stone.  It  sends  our 
thoughts  forward  to  that  later,  greater  day,  when  at  the  Last 
Supper  Jesus  took  the  cup  saying,  "This  cup  is  the  new 
covenant  in  my  blood" ;  and  we  enter  with  new  sympathy  into 
the  thought  of  our  Lord,  as  he  would  say:  "In  the  days  of 
Moses,  men  obeyed  laws,  imposed  from  without,  and  they 
obeyed  because  they  had  to  obey.  The  prophet  promised  the 
new  era,  which  I  proclaim.  Henceforth  shall  men  obey  the 
law  of  righteousness  from  inward  impulse,  not  from  outward 
compulsion.  They  will  be  good,  do  good,  not  because  they 
must,  but  because  they  will."  The  prophet's  word  opens  up 
the  fountain  from  which  Paul  was  to  drink  so  freely :  "Not 
that  we  are  sufficient  of  ourselves,  to  account  anything  as 
from  ourselves;  but  our  sufficiency  is  from  God;  who  also 
made  us  sufficient  as  ministers  of  a  new  covenant;  not  of  the 


5  Some  writers  insist  that  the  words  express  simply  the  devotion  of  a  late 
scribe  to  the  written  law. 

Z27 


[XVI-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

letter,  but  of  the  spirit:  for  the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit 
giveth  life"  (II  Cor.  3:5,  6).  Our  Bible  is  divided  into  the 
Old  and  the  New  Covenants.  The  titles  are  a  tribute  to  the 
great  thought  of  our  passage. 

In  its  emphasis  upon  the  inwardness  of  true  religion,  this 
passage  finds  a  companion  in  Ezekiel  36,  which  "reads  like  a 
fragment  of  a  Pauline  epistle." 

And  I  will  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  yqu,  and  ye 
shall  be  clean :  from  all  your  filthiness,  and  from  all 
your  idols,  will  I  cleanse  you.  A  new  heart  also  will  I 
give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within  you ;  and 
I  will  take  away  the  stony  heart  out  of  your  flesh,  and 
I  will  give  you  a  heart  of  flesh.  And  I  will  put  my 
Spirit  within  you,  and  cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes, 
and  ye  shall  keep  mine  ordinances,  and  do  them. — Ezek. 
2>6 :  25-27. 

But — and  here  we  mark  a  profound  distinction  between 
Ezekiel  and  his  predecessor,  Jeremiah — if  we  should  ask 
Ezekiel,  "What  are  these  ordinances  and  statutes  in  which 
you  propose  that  your  people  walk?"  he  would  probably 
answer:  "They  are  the  law  codes  cherished  by  the  priests. 
In  the  good  day  coming,  there  will  be  a  loyal  heart-devotion 
to  an  outward  laiv."  Far  from  identifying  religion  with 
ceremonialism,  always  insisting  upon  spiritual  cleansing  and 
the  transformation  of  the  stony  heart,  Ezekiel  does  elevate 
law,  rituaj,  ceremony,  in  a  way  which  would  have  been 
obnoxious  to  the  earlier  prophets. 


Sixteenth  Week,  First  Day. 

6.  The  Exilic  Emphasis  upon  ''the  Righteousness 
OF  the  Law" 

We  are  thus  led  to  notice  that  in  the  time  of  the  Exile, 
along  with  a  superb  emphasis  upon  the  inwardness  of  reli- 
gion, there  was  inculcated  by  Ezekiel  and  his  comrades  an 
extraordinary  emphasis  upon  ritual.     Amos's  God  hates,  de- 

328 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XVI-i] 

spises,  the  religious  feasts;  Hosea's  God  will  have,  not  sacri- 
fice, but  leal-love  and  justice;  Isaiah's  God  "cannot  away 
with  wickedness  and  worship";  Jeremiah's  God  has  no  in- 
terest in  frankincense  from  Sheba  and  the  sweet  cane  from  a 
far  country.  But  a  commentator,  Whitehouse,  makes  this 
suggestive  remark : 

"While  Jeremiah's  tendency  was  spiritual  and  ideal,  Ezekiel's 
was  constructive  and  practical.  And  he  set  himself  the  task, 
even  in  the  midnight  darkness  of  Israel's  exile^  to  prepare  for 
the  nation's  renewed  life.  The  external  bases  of  Israel's  reli- 
gion had  been  swept  away,  and  in  exchange  for  these,  Jere- 
miah had  led  his  countrymen  to  the  more  permanent  inward 
grounds  of  spiritual  renewal.  But  a  religion  could  not  per- 
manently subsist  in  this  world  of  space  and  time,  without 
some  concrete  embodiment." 


Americans  who  today  neglect  or  depreciate  the  church 
and  its  services,  might  find,  if  they  would  study  the  Bible, 
considerable  aid  and  comfort  in  the  earlier  prophets.  But 
they  fail  to  realize,  what  Ezekiel  clearly  understood,  that  a 
religion  without  some  "concrete  embodiment"  becomes  so 
ethereal  that  it  vanishes  into  ether.  The  temple  destroyed, 
the  ark  lost,  the  sacrifices  discontinued,  the  priesthood  dis- 
organized, how  long  could  the  Hebrew  faith  last  in  the  midst 
of  the  majestic,  overwhelming  temples  of  Babylon?  To  meet 
the  unquestionable  need  of  the  hour,  our  "priest,  clad  in  the 
prophet's  robe,"  went  to  work  to  construct  his  City  of  God, 
and  "to  anchor  the  old  ethical  standards  by  new  ritual  re- 
quirements." The  latter  chapters  of  Ezekiel  deal  with  the 
new,  the  ideal  temple,  too  far  separated,  alas,  from  the  life, 
the  sorrows  of  the  people;  holy,  alas,  with  something  of  the 
holiness  of  taboo.  These  chapters  deal  with  a  priesthood 
limited  to  an  ecclesiastical  aristocracy,  and  exclude  from  the 
nobler  tasks  of  the  temple  the  descendants  of  the  old-time 
village  priests,  charging  them  at  the  same  time  with  sins 
which  neither  they  nor  their  fathers  thought  to  commit* 


8  Bade,  "The  Old  Testament  in  the  Light  of  Today,"  p.  302ff. 
329 


[XVI-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Still  further,  the  chapters  propound  an  intricate  system  of 
ecclesiastical  law,  whereby  the  holy  people  should  become 
indeed  a  people  holy,  set  apart  to  Jehovah.  If  sin  had  mur- 
dered the  nation,  the  risen  nation  could  live  by  holiness.  To 
the  task  of  making  and  keeping  Israel  holy,  Ezekiel  and  his 
friends  bent  all  their  efforts.  For  himself  the  prophet  never 
forgot  that  ritual  must  be  the  slave  of  religion,  not  the  sub- 
stitute for  religion.  He  knew  that  tables  of  stone  might  be 
obeyed  by  men  with  hearts  of.  stone. 

Read  Ezek.  47:1-12 — the  picture  of  the  miraculous  river. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  pictures  in  the  Bible  is  his  pic- 
ture of  the  river  of  God's  divine  beneficence,  which  flows 
from  beneath  the  threshold  of  the  sanctuary;  which  receives 
no  tributaries,  but  grows  deeper  and  deeper  as  it  flows ;  which 
courses  down  through  the  desolate  ravines ;  which  refreshes 
the  desert  waste  and  transforms  even  the  Dead  Sea  itself 
into  a  sea  in  which  fish  may  swarm  for  the  food  of  men ;  a 
river  along  whose  banks  grow  trees  bearing  their  fruit  every 
month,  the  fruit  for  food,  the  leaves  for  healing.  There  are 
few  more  sublime  figures  of  the  heavenly  influences  issuing 
from  the  visible,  organized  church  of  God  on  earth.  The 
Revelator,  who  drew  much  of  his  inspiration  from  Ezekiel, 
thinks  of  the  same  river,  no  longer  refreshing  the  wilderness 
of  this  present  world,  but  flowing  in  the  midst  of  the  golden 
street  of  the  Paradise  of  God. 

Nor  should  one  forget  the  description  of  Jehovah's  return 
in  glory  to  the  new  and  glorified  temple,  now  to  dwell  for- 
ever with  his  people.  To  the  prophet  the  most  majestic 
sanctuary  was  simply  a  mass  of  cedar  and  hewn  stone  until 
Jehovah  should  come  to  make  it  the  place  of  the  soles" of  his 
feet.  The  Jerusalem  of  which  he  dreamed  held  no  allure- 
ments for  him  unless  its  other  name  might  be  "Jehovah  is 
there." 

But  who  has  not  discovered  that  it  is  easier  to  be  a  good 
churchman  than  a  good  man?  "There  is  nothing  a  man  will 
not  do  to  evade  spirituality." 

330 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XVI-2] 

There  had  been  days  when  Ezekiel's  searching  words  had 
been  to  his  hearers  simply  "a  very  lovely  song  of  one  that 
hath  a  pleasant  voice,  and  can  play  well  on  an  instrument" 
(Ezek.  33:32).  But  after  586  B.  C.  his  words  became  law. 
"The  old  joyous  communion  with  God,  which  characterized 
the  ancient  Hebrews,  passed  away,  and  now  there  came  to 
be  an  elaborate  ritual  with  fasts  and  feasts,  with  days  of 
atonement,  which  expressed  the  heavy  consciousness  of  sin, 
and  the  earnest  longing  for  reconciliation  with  a  righteous 
God." 

Sixteenth  Week,  Second  Day. 

Read  Lev.  19,  noting  laws  of  ritual  enforced  by  same  sanc- 
tions as  laws  of  purity,  philanthropy,  and  hospitality.  Ob- 
serve especially  the  attitude  of  the  chapter  toward  strangers. 

In  Leviticus,  Chapters  17  to  26,  we  have  a  code  of  laws 
which  was  probably  compiled  and  developed  in  the  age  of 
the  Exile.  Because  of  its  insistence  on  moral  and  ceremonial 
holiness,  it  is  commonly  called  the  Holiness  Code.  It  enunci- 
ates many  just  and  generous  laws  of  conduct;  but  also  laws 
for  feasts  and  fasts  and  priesthood,  which  show  a  tendency 
to  ritualistic  emphasis,  which  would  one  day  bring  on  "the 
night  of  legalism."  "Have  we  lost  the  ark?  The  law  is  ours. 
Have  we  lost  the  sacred  building?  We  have  still  the  Sab- 
bath." The  exilic  writers  who  thus  codified  and  expanded 
the  ancient  laws  did  not  make  the  old  mistake  of  identifying 
religion  with  ritual.  They  sought  to  win  for  themselves  and 
for  their  fellow-exiles  the  holiness  of  character.  They  be- 
lieved that  by  a  hearty  devotion  to  God's  outward  law  of  just 
dealing  and  ritual  sanctity  they  were  expressing  and  fostering 
a  hearty  response  to  God's  will.  Now  it  is  quite  certain  that 
the  outward  manifestation  of  patriotism  by  the  salute  to  the 
flag  and  by  rising  to  the  singing  of  the  national  anthem 
fosters  patriotism;  it  is  equally  certain  that  the  symbols  of 
devotion,  the  closing  of  the  eyes,  the  kneeling  or  the  rising 
for  prayer,  foster  the  spirit  of  devotion.     Songs  of   fellow- 

331 


[XVI-2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

ship  tend  to  create  actual  fellowship.  But  an  iron-molder 
whose  chief  interest  is  his  mold  ought  to  lose  his  job.  The 
preacher  whose  chief  interest  is  his  elocution  is  false  to  his 
high  calling.  The  devotee  who  is  supremely  anxious  to  get 
the  correct  point  of  compass,  that  he  may  pray  toward  Jeru- 
salem or  Mecca,  has  missed  the  meaning  of  prayer.  In  their 
very  effort  to  create  a  holy  people,  the  law-makers  were 
fashioning  chains  from  which,  in  Jesus'  day,  men  could 
scarcely  extricate  themselves  to  attain  to  the  glorious  liberty 
of  the  children  of  God.  Very  soon  the  law-makers  began 
to  ostracize  the  law-breakers.  The  Sabbath  lost  its  festal  joy. 
Its  observance  was  guarded  by  restrictions  and  taboos. 

7.  The  Exiles'  Ideal  of  Manhood 

The  manhood  developed  by  the  emphases  of  the  Exile  was 
very  different  from  that  of  the  prophetic  ideal  of  earlier  days. 
The  destruction  of  Jerusalem  was  the  death  of  the  nation. 
The  rebuilding  of  Jerusalem  would  be,  not  the  revival  of  the 
nation,  but  the  establishment  of  a  church.  No  longer  then 
does  the  prophetic  thought  picture  the  man  of  God  going 
forth  to  meet  the  daily  life,  to  master  it  with  justice  and 
lovingkindness.'  Rather,  the  righteous  man  is  one  who,  to 
use  the  words  of  a  later  prophet,  is  bathed  in  "the  fountain 
opened  to  the  house  of  David,  and  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Jerusalem,  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness"  (Zech.  13:  i). 

The  newer  ideal  of  the  religious  life  is  portrayed  for  us 
in  the  almost  matchless  word,  already  quoted,  written  prob- 
ably shortly  after  the  Exile :  "For  thus  saith  the  high  and 
lofty  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity,  whose  name  is  Holy:  I 
dwell  in  the  high  and  holy  place,  with  him  also  that  is  of  a 
contrite  and  humble  spirit,  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the  humble, 
and  to  revive  the  heart  of  the  contrite"  (Isa.  57:  15).  "God 
has  two  thrones,  one  in  the  highest  heaven,  the  other  in  the 
humblest  heart." 


7  Suggestion  of  George  Adam  Smith. 

Z32 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XVI-3] 

Sixteenth  Week,  Third  Day. 

8.  The  Holy  People  and  the  Gentile  World:  Con- 
trasted Emphases 

Read  Ezek.  39,  a  picture  of  the  destruction  of  destroyers, 
which  left  a  deep  impression  upon  subsequent  Jewish  life 
and  thought. 

a.  The  Vengeance  of  Faith. 

As  the  prophets  of  the  Exile  thought  upon  the  City  of  God, 
what  attitude  did  they  take  toward  foreign  nations?  Ezekiel, 
who  gives  us  his  gospel  of  redemption  even  for  Samaria  and 
for  Sodom,  yet  hurls  his  curses  with  terrific  vehemence 
against  many  of  the  great  nations  of  his  time.  With  pic- 
turesque detail  he  describes  the  city  of  Tyre,  of  whose  mer- 
chants it  has  been  said :  "They  traveled  and  traded  farther 
than  any  other  nation  of  antiquity.  They  sought,  not  to  gain 
the  whole  world,  but  to  get  gain  from  the  whole  world."  The 
prophet's  description  only  makes  more  tragic  the  city's  doom. 

Thy  rowers  have  brought  thee  into  great  waters :  the 
east  wind  hath  broken  thee  in  the  heart  of  the  seas. 
Thy  riches,  and  thy  wares,  thy  merchandise,  thy 
mariners,  and  thy  pilots,  thy  calkers,  and  the  dealers  in 
thy  merchandise,  and  all  thy  men  of  war,  that  are  in 
thee,  with  all  thy  company  which  is  in  the  midst  of  thee, 
shall  fall  into  the  heart  of  the  seas  in  the  "day  of  thy 
ruin. — Ezek.  27  :  26,  27. 

Again,  in  grandiose  fashion  he  describes  Egypt  and  other 
hated  nations  as  down  in  Sheol,  meeting  together  in  the  grim 
and  dusty  realm  of  the  shades. 

With  Ezekiel's  conception  of  holiness,  it  is  clear  that  he 
could  permit  no  foreigner,  uncircumcised  in  heart  and  flesh, 
to  enter  his  ideal  sanctuary  (Ezek.  44:9)-  His  "holy"  hatred 
of  foreigners  reaches  its  climax  in  a  lurid  picture  of  the  great 
conflict  before  the  ultimate  peace.  He  sees  vast  hordes  of 
savage  troops  sweeping  down  from  the  north  as,  in  the  days 
of    his    childhood,    Zephaniah    and    Jeremiah    had    seen    the 

Z2>Z 


[XVI-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Scythians  coming  down  upon  Palestine.  But  the  wild  army 
does  not  come,  as  in  the  thought  of  the  earlier  prophets,  as 
the  rod  of  Jehovah's  anger  against  Israel.  Suddenly,  just  as 
their  fatal  blow  is  to  be  launched,  the  Lord  God  will  call  unto 
all  his  mountains  for  a  sword,  every  man's  sword  will  be 
against  his  brother.  Bow  and  arrows  will  be. struck  from  the 
hands  of  every  savage.  Birds  and  beasts  of  every  kind  are 
furnished  with  a  glorious  banquet  of  flesh  and  blood.  As 
one  reads,  one  is  reminded  of  Zephaniah's  picture  of  Jeho- 
vah's sacrificial  feast.  But  to  Zephaniah  the  victims  of  the 
feast  were  the  sinners  of  Jerusalem.  Now  the  victims  are 
to  be  the  enemies  of  Jehovah's  people.  Some  seven  months 
"the  house  of  Israel"  shall  devote  to  the  burial  of  their  foes; 
for  seven  years  they  shall  need  to  take  no  wood  from  the 
field  or  forest,  because  of  the  abundance  of  wood  furnished 
by  the  abandoned  weapons  of  their  enemies  (Ezek.  38  and 
39).    This  path  of  thought  was  to  be  crowded  by  later  writers. 

Obadiah,  shortest  and  fiercest  of  the  prophecies,  apparently 
gathered  most  of  its  material  from  the  period  of  the  Exile, 
or  at  any  rate  breathed  the  atmosphere  of  the  period.^ 

Edom  was  Judah's  near  neighbor,  nearest  kinsman,  relent- 
less and  insatiable  enemy.  The  little  book  grievously  re- 
proaches Edom  for  standing  aloof  in  the  day  when  strangers 
entered  the  holy  city,  and  cast  lots  upon  Jerusalem ;  for  cut- 
ting ofif  those  who  were  trying  to  escape.  But  the  book 
breathes  not  alone  reproach  but  revenge.  Bitter,  unforgiv- 
ing, the  prophet  predicts  and  almost  prays  for  the  day  of 
Edom's  doom. 

The  pride  of  thy  heart  hath  deceived  thee,  O  thou 
that  dwellest  in  the  clefts  of  the  rock,  whose  habitation 
is  high ;  that  saith  in  his  heart.  Who  shall  bring  me 
down  to  the  ground?  Though  thou  mount  on  high  as 
the  eagle,  and  though  thy  nest  be  set  among  the  stars. 


®  Many  battles  of  the  scholars  have  been  fought  over  this  tiny  prophecy. 
It  uses  and  adds  to  a  message  which  we  now  read  in  Jeremiah  49.     Bits  of  the 

S-ophecy  have  been  scattered  by  commentators  over  two  or  three  centuries. 
ne  kindly  critic,  in  trying  to  satisfy  all  the  puzzling  facts,  decides:  "Prob- 
ably the  book  was  composed  in  the  early  part  of  the  Exile,  an  ancient  oracle 
being  utilized,  and  additions  may  have  been  made  after  the  Exile." 

334 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XVI-4] 

I  will  bring  thee  down  from  thence,  saith  Jehovah.  .  .  . 
As  thou  hast  done,  it  shall  be  done  unto  thee ;  thy  deal- 
ing shall  return  upon  thine  own  head. — Obad.  i  :  3,  4,  15. 

The  temper  of  the  prophecy  is  alien  to  the  spirit  of  Jesus. 
The  prophet  has  not  heard  the  word  of  the  Master,  "Father, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  The  day 
would  come,  when  a  gentle,  sacrificial  woman,  about  to  be- 
come the  victim  of  judicial  murder,  would  be  able  to  say,  "I 
realize  that  patriotism  is  not  enough.  I  must  have  no  hatred 
nor  bitterness  toward  anyone."  We  shall  hear  some  such 
Christlike  voices,  as  we  go  on  in  our  study  even  of  pre- 
Christian  days.  But  behind  the  bitterness  and  revenge  of 
Obadiah,  there  is  a  victorious  faith,  which  bids  defiance  to 
all  the  seeming  facts  of  life,  and  knows  that  Jehovah  and 
Jehovah's  side  are  going  to  win.  This  glorious  faith,  which 
makes  one  willing  "to  live  hard,"  transfigured  by  the  generous 
spirit  of  Christ  finds  expression  in  the  words  of  an  American 
prophet  of  the  new  social  order: 

"The  kingdom  of  God  is  the  greatest  fight  for  which  men 
ever  enlisted,  and  the  biggest  game  that  was  ever  played.  The 
odds  are  always  against  you.  It  is  just  as  if  a  lone  little 
eleven  on  the  gridiron  should  see  the  whole  crowd  from  the 
bleachers  pouring  down  into  the  field  and  lining  up  against 
them.  Yet  you  know  in  your  soul  that  you  are  bound  to  win, 
for  God  is  playing  on  your  side,  and  God  has  unusual  staying 
powers.  All  who  have  ever  fought  for  the  kingdom  of  God 
know  that  there  is  a  strange  joy  in  it.  .  .  .  There  is  even  a 
stern  sense  of  humor  as  you  watch  the  crowd  rolling  down  on 
you  and  you  wait  to  be  trampled  on."'' 

Old  Obadiah  knew  that  he  and  his  side  were  going  to  win, 
but  he  could  see  no  way  of  winning  without  the  defeat  and 
the  doom  of  the  opposing  side. 

Sixteenth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 
b.  The  Hospitality  of  Faith. 
Happily,    another  path   of  thought  was  pursued   by   some 

9  Rauschenbusch,  "Christianizing  the  Social  Order,"  p.  102. 

335 


[XVI-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

heroic  souls  in  the  bitter  days  of  the  Exile,  It  is  probable 
that  disciples  of  Jeremiah  were  familiar  with  the  words  which 
we  now  read  in  Jer.  i8 :  7,  8 :  "At  what  instant  I  shall  speak 
concerning  a  nation,  and  concerning  a  kingdom,  to  pluck 
up  and  to  break  down  and  to  destroy  it;  if  that  nation,  con- 
cerning which  I  have  spoken,  turn  from  their  evil,  I  will 
repent  of  the  evil  that  I  thought  to  do  unto  them."  There  is 
a  length  and  breadth  and  sweep  about  this  prophecy  which 
no  man  who  heard  it  could  forget. 

In  messages  which  we  have  assigned  provisionally  to  the 
Prophet  of  the  Exile,  we  come  upon  similar  words :  "Look 
unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth"  (Isa. 
45:22).  Saved — but  how?  By  ceremonialism?  No.  By 
worship  at  a  designated  shrine  in  Jerusalem?  No.  "Look 
unto  me" !  Those  words  must  have  shocked  the  advocates 
of  special  privilege;  but  they  must  have  found  welcome  in 
many  devout  hearts.  Indeed  there  is  a  law  of  the  Holiness 
Code,  which,  if  obeyed,  would  introduce  into  the  life  of  every 
exile  a  genial  hospitality  toward  foreigners.  Note  the  gen- 
erosity of  the  law:  "And  if  a  stranger  sojourn  with  thee  in 
your  land,  ye  shall  not  do  him  wrong.  The  stranger  that 
sojourneth  with  you  shall  be  unto  you  as  the  home-born 
among  you,  and  thou  shalt  love  him  as  thyself  ;  for  ye  were 
sojourners  in  the  land  of  Egypt:  I  am  Jehovah  your  God" 
(Lev.  19:33,  34). 

c.  The  Service  of  Faith. 

Hospitality  involves  service.  While  some  teachers.  Influen- 
tial with  the  people,  could  see  no  better  fate  for  the  "heathen" 
than  their  destruction,  there  were  prophets  who  saw  the 
King  in  his  beauty,  and  beheld  a  land  of  far  distances.  These 
men  believed  that  Israel's  supremacy  was  to  be  won  by  serv- 
ice, that  the  Israel  within  Israel  had  a  mission,  not  alone  of 
national,  but  of  universal  salvation. 

(i)   The  Servant  of  Jehovah. 
This  thought  of  service  and  saviourhood  finds  supreme  ex- 
336 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XVI-4] 

pression  in  passages  usually  dated  in,  or  shortly  after,  the 
period  of  the  Exile.  In  Isaiah  41  :  8flf.,  44:1-5,  44:211?., 
45 :  4,  Israel  is  Jehovah's  Servant,  who,  because  of  his  relation 
to  Jehovah,  will  be  guarded,  guided,  redeemed  by  him. 

Several  passages  reach  loftier  heights,  in  words  "which 
may  be  regarded  as  perhaps  the  noblest  in  Hebrew  poetry," 
the  writer  speaks  to  the  ideal  Israel : 

And  now  saith  Jehovah  that  formed  me  from  the 
womb  to  be  his  servant,  to  bring  Jacob  again  to  him, 
and  that  Israel  be  gathered  unto  him  (for  I  am  honor- 
able in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah,  and  my  God  is  become  my 
strength)  ;  yea,  he  saith,  It  is  too  light  .1  thing  that  thou 
shouldest  be  my  servant  to  raise  up  the  tribes  of  Jacob, 
and  to  restore  the  preserved  of  Israel:  I  will  also  give 
thee  for  a  light  to  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  mayest  be  my 
salvation  unto  the  end  of  the  earth. — Isa.  49:  5,  6. 

Few  men  today  cherish  a  view  of  God  and  of  the  world  as 
generous  as  this.  But  no  man  who  reads  those  words  dare 
exclude  from  his  hoped-for  Republic  of  God  India  or  China 
or  any  remote  island  of  the  Pacific,  or  any  near  and  disliked 
race,  or  any  national  foe,  however  hated  and  hateful. 

Again  in  Isaiah  42:  iff.,  we  have  the  thought  of  Jehovah's 
Servant,  commissioned  to  instruct,  illuminate,  emancipate  the 
nations,  "delivering  them  from  the  prisonhouse  of  error  and 
despair." 

Behold,  my  servant,  whom  I  uphold ;  my  chosen,  in 
whom  my  soul  delighteth :  I  have  put  my  Spirit  upon 
him;  he  will  bring  forth  justice  to  the  Gentiles.  He  will 
not  cry,  nor  lift  up  his  voice,  nor  cause  it  to  be  heard  in 
the  street.  A  bruised  reed  will  he  not  break,  and  a 
dimly  burning  wick  will  he  not  quench  :  he  will  bring 
forth  justice  in  truth.  He  will  not  fail  nor  be  discour- 
aged, till  he  have  set  justice  in  the  earth  ;  and  the  isles 
shall  wait  for  his  law.  ...  I,  Jehovah,  have  called  thee 
in  righteousness,  and  will  hold  thy  hand,  and  will  keep 
thee,  and  give  thee  for  a  covenant  of  the  people,  for  a 
light  of  the  Gentiles  ;  to  open  the  blind  eyes,  to  bring 
out  the  prisoners  from  the  dungeon,  and  them  that  sit 
in  darkness  out  of  the  prison-house. — Isa.  42:  1-4,  6,  7. 

337 


[XVI-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Here,  too,  the  Servant  seems  to  be  Israel,  or  rather,  the 
Israel  within  Israel,  those  who  bore  within  their  hearts  the 
ideals  of  Israel.  It  has  been  remarked,  "There  are  stomach- 
Germans,  and  there  are  soul-Germans."  There  are  stomach- 
Americans  ;  then,  thank  God,  there  are  soul-Americans.  Some 
writers  would  think  of  the  Servant  of  Jehovah  here  as  "the 
genius"  of  Israel,  or  the  ideal  Israelite.  The  messages  prob- 
ably contemplate  the  soul-Jews. 

The  prophets  of  wrath  for  the  nations  may  have  buried 
the  messages  of  service,  but  those  messages,  like  the  Master 
whose  spirit  dwelt  in  the  prophets  who  uttered  them,  could 
not  be  holden  of  death. 

Sixteenth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

(2)  The  Servant  as  Sufferer, 

Read  Isa.  52 :  13-53 :  12,  the  noblest  Old  Testament  explanation 
of  faith's  most  grievous  problem. 

Most  memorable  among  these  Servant  passages  are  those 
which  consider  the  Servant  as  the  innocent,  gentle,  vicarious, 
victorious  sufferer. 

The  Lord  Jehovah  hath  given  me  the  tongue  of  them 
that  are  taught,  that  I  may  know  how  to  sustain  with 
words  him  that  is  weary:  he  wakeneth  morning  by 
morning,  he  wakeneth  mine  ear  to  hear  as  they  that  are 
taught.  The  Lord  Jehovah  hath  opened  mine  ear,  and 
I  was  not  rebellious,  neither  turned  away  backward. 
I  gave  my  back  to  the  smiters,  and  my  cheeks  to  them 
that  plucked  off  the  hair ;  I  hid  not  my  face  from  shame 
and  spitting.  For  the  Lord  Jehovah  will  help  me ; 
therefore  have  I  not  been  confounded:  therefore  have 
I  set  my  face  like  a  flint,  and  I  know  that  I  shall  not 
be  put  to  shame.  He  is  near  that  justifieth  me;  who 
will  contend  with  me?  let  us  stand  up  together:  who 
is  mine  adversary?  let  him  come  near  to  me.  Behold, 
the  Lord  Jehovah  will  help  me;  who  is  he  that  shall 
condemn  me?  behold,  they  all  shall  wax  old  as  a  gar- 
ment; the  moth  shall  eat  them  up. 

Who  is  among  you  that  feareth  Jehovah,  that  obeyeth 
the  voice  of  his  servant?  he  that  walketh  in  darkness, 

338 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XVI-5] 

and  hath  no  light,  let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  Jehovah, 
and  rely  upon  his  God.  Behold,  all  ye  that  kindle  a 
fire,  that  gird  yourselves  about  with  firebrands ;  walk 
ye  in  the  flame  of  your  fire,  and  among  the  brands  that 
ye  have  kindled.  This  shall  ye  have  of  my  hand ;  ye 
shall  lie  down  in  sorrow. — Isa.  50:4-11. 

In  the  passage  quoted  we  have  for  the  first  time  the  Servant 
characterized  as  martyr.  Wakened  morning  after  morning 
by  Jehovah's  voice,  not  rebellious  to  any  divine  monition,  the 
Servant  yields  his  back  to  the  smiters,  his  cheeks  to  them 
that  pluck  off  the  hair,  nor  hides  his  face  from  shame  and 
spitting;  for  he  knows  that  Jehovah  will  help  him,  that  he 
will  not  be  put  to  shame.  This  passage  vividly  pictures  the 
experience  and  the  triumphant  conviction  of  devout  Israelites. 
The  words  were  very  dear  to  Paul  (see  Rom.  8:31-34)  and 
were  close  to  the  heart  of  Paul's  Master.  They  remind  us 
of  that  true  saying:  "The  best  way  to  overcome  is  to 
undergo." 

In  Isaiah  52:  13  to  53:  12  the  Servant  is  despised  (see  also 
49:7),  rejected  of  men,  an  innocent  but  submissive  sufferer, 
one  who  at  length  meets  an  unjust  death,  is  buried  inglori- 
ously.     But, 

Surely  he  hath  borne  our  griefs,  and  carried  our  sor- 
rows ;  yet  we  did  esteem  him  stricken,  smitten  of  God, 
and  afflicted.  But  he  was  wounded  for  our  transgres- 
sions, he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities ;  the  chastise- 
ment of  our  peace  was  upon  him ;  and  with  his  stripes 
we  are  healed.  All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray ; 
we  have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way ;  and  Jehovah 
hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all. — Isa.  53 :  4-6. 

So  speak  the  nations,  or  the  Gentiles,  who  at  first  had  been 
startled,  struck  dumb,  by  what  they  had  heard  (Isa.  52:15- 
53:  i),  who  now  understand  at  last  that  all  of  the  Servant's 
sufferings  have  been  for  them,  for  them  ! 

But  the  suft'ering  Servant  becomes  the  victorious  Redeemer, 
to  "take  his  place  with  mighty  conquerors,  and  to  rejoice  in 
his  mission,  the  redemption  of  the  world." 

339 


[XVI-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  shall  be 
satisfied :  by  the  knowledge  of  himself  shall  my  right- 
eous servant  justify  many;  and  he  shall  bear  their 
iniquities.  Therefore  will  I  divide  him  a  portion  with 
the  great,  and  he  shall  divide  the  spoil  with  the  strong; 
because  he  poured  out  his  soul  unto  death,  and  was 
numbered  with  the  transgressors :  yet  he  bare  the  sin 
of  many,  and  made  intercession  for  the  transgressors. — 
Isa.  53:  II,  12. 

All  the  early  world  believed  that  righteousness  meant  pros- 
perity, that  adversity  was  invariably  the  punishment  for  sin 
— personal  sin,  or  the  communal  sin,  in  which  the  individual 
was  caught  as  in  a  trap.  The  Exile  was  explained  as  the 
true  and  inevitable  issue  of  sin.  But,  as  we  have  seen,  there 
was  a  growing  protest  against  the  doctrine  that  all  suffering 
is  penal.  The  second  generation  of  exiles  felt  keenly  that 
they  were  innocent  sufferers.  "Our  fathers  sinned  and  are 
not,  and  we  bear  their  iniquities." 

Rut  is  there  no  other  explanation  of  the  suffering  of  the 
innocent?  The  Semitic  world  was  familiar  with  the  sacrifices 
by  which  the  sins  of  the  people  were  borne  by  the  innocent 
victim  on  the  altar.  As  the  people  looked  back  upon  a  man 
like  Jeremiah,  they  must  have  seen  that  through  his  very 
suffering  he,  though  innocent,  had  helped  forward  the  cause 
of  the  people  whom  he  loved,  for  whom  his  very  body  had 
become  a  living  sacrifice.  As  the  writer  searched  his  own 
experience  and  that  of  the  poor  and  pious  lovers  of  Jehovah 
among  his  friends,  there  may  well  have  come  to  him  the 
divine  instruction  that  this  woeful  experience  of  innocent 
sufferers  might  yet  bring  redemption  even  to  their  conquerors, 
who  had  brought  them  to  an  inglorious  national  death,  the 
grave  of  exile.  The  great  words  were  written  for  the  instruc- 
tion and  inspiration  of  the  prophet's  contemporaries.  But 
neither  Israel,  nor  the  Inner  Circle  of  Israelites,  nor  yet  Jere- 
miah, fills  full  the  ideal  presented  here  of  the  Suffering,  Sav- 
ing Servant  of  Jehovah.  The  idea  that  the  prophet  looked 
forward  consciously  down  the  centuries  to  the  cross  of  Jesus' 
death,  the  garden  of  his  burial  and  his  resurrection,  may  not 

340 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND. EMPHASES        [XVI-5] 

perhaps  be  dogmatically  denied,  yet  cannot  be  defended.     But 
Jesus  incarnated,  enfleshed  the  ideal  of  the  prophet. 

The  prophecy  has  opened  up  to  all  subsequent  generations 
of  men  the  true  and  only  certain  method  of  world-redemption. 
The  mothers  of  the  world  long  ago  discovered  it. 

"You  struggled  blindly  for  my  soul 
And  wept  for  me  such  bitter  tears 
That  through  your  faith  my  faith  grew  whole 
And  fearless  of  the  coming  years. 

For  in  the  path  of  doubt  and  dread 

You  would  not  let  me  walk  alone, 
But  prayed  the  prayers  I  left  unsaid 

And  sought  the  God  I  did  disown. 

You  gave  to  me  no  word  of  blame, 
But  wrapped  me  in  your  love's  belief, 

Dear  love,  that  burnt  my  sin  like  flame, 
And  left  me  worthy  of  your  grief."'" 

The  missionaries  of  the  world  long  ago  discovered  it  for 
themselves.  Hannington,  in  a  filthy  hut,  surrounded  by  sav- 
ages who  were  about  to  kill  him,  says  to  his  murderers :  "Tell 
the  king,  Mwanga,  that  I  die  for  the  Baganda,  and  purchase 
the  road  to  Uganda  with  my  life."  Chalmers  of  New  Guinea, 
who  was  one  day  to  die  at  the  hands  of  cannibals,  says :  "Re- 
call the  twenty-one  years,  give  me  back  all  its  experiences,  give 
me  its  shipwrecks,  give  me  its  standings  in  the  face  of  death, 
give  it  me  surrounded  with  savages  with  spears  and  clubs, 
give  it  me  back  again  with  spears  flying  about  me,  With  the 
club  knocking  me  to  the  ground,  give  it  me  back,  and  I  will 
still  be  your  missionary." 

Moreover  the  "nations"  have  responded  to  the  appeal  of 
vicarious  suffering  as  to  no  other  appeal.  Arthur  Jackson 
of  Manchuria,  the  athlete,  scholar,  physician  of  England,  goes 
down  to  the  railroad  station  of  Mukden,  and  there  examines 
hundreds  of  Chinese  trappers,  many  of  whom  are  stricken 
by  the  plague.     At  last  Jackson  himself  dies  of  the  plague; 

^0  Hester  I.  Radford,  "The  Mother,"  The  Atlantic  Monthly,  February.  1910. 


[XVI-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

and  non-Christian  Chinese  papers  commenting  upon  his  death 
use  words  like  these: 

"Now  he  has  given  his  only  life  for  the  lives  of  others,  we 
see  that  he  was  a  true  Christian,  who  has  done  what  Jesus 
did  thousands  of  years  ago." 

"He  did  the  will  of  God,  to  die  for  all." 

"His  death  in  labouring  for  our  country  was  actually  carry- 
ing out  the  Christian  principle  of  giving  up  one's  life  to  save 
the  world." 

And  the  Viceroy  speaking  at  his  memorial  service  closed 
with  these  words : 

"O  spirit  of  Dr.  Jackson,  we  pray  you  intercede  for  the 
twenty  million  people  of  Manchuria,  and  ask  the  Lord  of 
Heaven  to  take  away  this  pestilence,  so  that  we  may  once 
more  lay  our  heads  in  peace  upon  our  pillows. 

In  life  you  were  brave,  now  you  are  an  exalted  Spirit. 
Noble  Spirit,  who  sacrificed  your  life  for  us,  help  us  still, 
and  look  down  in  kindness  upon  us  all !"" 

"The  value  of  a  redeeming  personality  depends  upon  the 
richness  of  the  self  given  and  the  depth  of  the  giving,"  Paul 
well  understood  this  when  he  underscored  the  great  word  of 
Phil.  2:9,  "Wherefore." 

Have  this  mind  in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ 
Jesus  :  who,  existing  in  the  form  of  God,  counted  not 
the  being  on  an  equality  with  God  a  thing  to  be  grasped, 
but  emptied  himself,  taking  the  form  of  a  servant,  being 
made  in  the  likeness  of  men  ;  and  being  found  in  fashion 
as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself,  becoming  obedient  even 
unto  death,  yea,  the  death  of  the  cross.  Wherefore  also 
God  highly  exalted  him,  and  gave  unto  him  the  name 
which  is  above  every  name ;  that  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven  and 
things  on  earth  and  things  under  the  earth,  and  that 
every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord, 
to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father. — Phil.  2:  5-1 1, 

Few  men  of  his  century  followed  the  path  of  the  prophet's 
thought,  but  it  was  never  overgrown  with  wire-grass  and  for- 

"  From  the  remarkably  interesting  book,  by  Dugald  Christie,  "Thirty  Years 
in  the  Manchu  Capital,"  p.  24ifif.  * 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XV  I-6j 

gotten.  And  one  dares  to  hope  that  our  own  century  will 
see  that  path  of  thought— now  made  so  clear  to  men  by  Jesus 
— pursued  by  multitudes. 

"  'Twas  said,  'When  roll  of  drum  and  battle's  roar 
Shall  cease  upon  the  earth,  O,  then  no  more 
The  deed,  the  race,  of  heroes  in  the  land.' 
But  scarce  that  word  was  breathed  when  one  small  hand 
Lifted  victorious  o'er  a  giant  wrong 
That  had  its  victims  crushed  through  ages  long; 
Some  woman  set  her  pale  and  quivering  face, 
Firm  as  a  rock,  against  a  man's  disgrace; 
A  little  child  suffered  in  silence  lest 
His  savage  pain  should  wound  a  mother's  breast; 
Some  quiet  scholar  flung  his  gauntlet  down 
And  risked,  in  Truth's  great  name,  the  synod's  frown; 
A  civic  hero,  in  the  calm  realm  of  laws, 
Did  that  which  suddenly  drew  a  world's  applause; 
And  one  to  the  pest  his  lithe  young  body  gave 
That  he  a  thousand  thousand  lives  might  save." 

— Richard  Watson  Gilder. 

"When  we  cease  to  bleed,  we  cease  to  bless." 

Sixteenth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

9.  The  Holy  People  and  Their  King 

The  Exilic  Conception  of  the  "Messiah." 

Read   Ezek.   34,   whose  importance,  literary  and   religious,   is 
suggested  by  the  present  Study. 

As  Ezekiel  and  his  friends  painted  the  golden  morrow  on 
their  midnight's  sky  of  rain,  they  pictured  the  restoration  of 
the  old  Northern  Kingdom  (see  p.  317),  and  it^  reunion  with 
Judah.  But  if  the  ancient  kingdom  of  David  is  to  come  once 
more,  is  the  kingdom  to  have  no  king?  In  the  days  of  the 
First  Exile,  apparently  before  the  final  overthrow  of  Jeru- 
salem, Ezekiel  in  Jehovah's  name  commands  the  crown  to 
be  taken  from  the  head  of  the  unworthy  Zedekiah  (p.  298), 
but  goes  on  with  words  breathing  new  hope:  "I  will  overturn, 
overturn,   overturn   it:   this  also   shall   be  no  more,   until   he 

343 


[XVI-6J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

come,  whose  right  it  is,  and  I  will  give  it  him"  (Ezek.  21: 
26,  27).  A  rightful  ruler,  then,  shall  one  day  wear  the  crown. 
In  his  34th  chapter,  after  dooming  the  greedy  shepherds 
who  feed  upon  the  sheep  which  they  are  supposed  to  feed, 
Ezekiel  again  hears  Jehovah  speak:  "Behold,  I  myself,  even 

I,  will  search  for  my  sheep,  and  will  seek  them  out.  As  a 
shepherd  seeketh  out  his  flock  in  the  day  that  he  is  among 
the  sheep  that  are  scattered  abroad,  so  will  I  seek  out  my 
sheep.  ...  I  myself  will  be  the  shepherd  of  my  sheep"   (vs. 

II,  12.  15).     But  he  continues: 

And  I  will  set  up  one  shepherd  over  them,  and  he 
shall  feed  them,  even  my  servant  David;  he  shall  feed 
them,  and  he  shall  be  their  shepherd.  And  I,  Jehovah, 
will  be  their  God,  and  my  servant  David  prince  among 
them;  I,  Jehovah,  have  spoken  it. — 34-23,  24. 

The  chapter  has  great  beauty  and  significance.  "With  us," 
says  George  Adam  Smith,  "sheep  are  often  left  to  themselves, 
but  I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  seen  in  the  East  a  flock 
of  sheep  without  a  shepherd.  In  such  a  landscape  as  Judea, 
where  a  day's  pasture  is  thinly  scattered  over  an  unfei^ced 
tract  of  country,  covered  with  delusive  paths,  still  frequented 
by  wild  beasts,  and  rolling  off  into  the  desert,  the  man  and 
his  character  are  indispensable.  On  some  high  moor,  across 
which  at  night  the  hyenas  howl,  when  you  meet  him,  sleep- 
less, far-sighted,  weather-beaten,  armed,  leaning  on  his  staff, 
and  looking  out  over  his  scattered  sheep,  every  one  of  them 
on  his  heart,  you  understand  why  the  shepherd  sprang  to  the 
front  in  his  people's  history,  why  they  gave  his  name  to 
their  king,  and  made  him  the  symbol  of  Providence,  why 
Christ  took  him  as  the  type  of  self-sacrifice." 

Our  chapter  lies  very  close  to  the  begmning  of  a  noble 
literary  development;  but  further,  "it  is  one  of  the  most 
important  m  tracing  the  development  of  Israel's  messianic 
hope."  Here  Jehovah  is  himself  the  shepherd  of  his  people, 
yet  he  ministers  his  shepherdhood  through  a  prince  of  the 
Davidic  line. 

In  a  later  chapter,  the  45th,  the  prophet  gives  us  a  picture 
of  the  prince  of  the  house  of  David,  which  would  by  no  means 

344 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XVI-7] 

have  satisfied  David,  and  would  not  satisfy  even  the  little 
exiled  king  Jehoiachin  liberated  from  his  prisonhouse.  The 
civic  duties  of  the  future  prince  are  almost  ignored.  Now 
his  main  function  is  to  serve  the  interests  of  the  temple,  to 
eat  before  Jehovah,  and  to  provide  certain  sacrifices  for  the 
priests.  With  this  conception  of  its  ruler,  the  nation  becomes 
indeed  a  church. 

Exilic  writers  probably  gave  little  thought  to  the  Messiah, 
and  attributed  to  him  little  of  religious  value. 

Sixteenth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

Concluding  Note 

An  E.xilc's  Retrospect  and  Prospect. 

If  an  old  and  enlightened  exile,  who  could  still  remember 
the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  had  attempted  in  538  B.  C.  to  count  up 
the  gains  and  losses  of  the  years,  he  might  have  set  down 
some  such  words  as  these : 

"When,  with  breaking  hearts  and  broken  fortunes,  we 
started  upon  the  desolate  journey  to  Babylon,  all  the  old 
landmarks,  all  the  old  foundations  of  life  were  swept  away. 
We  had  thought  that  Jehovah  was  dependent  upon  us,  that 
he  must  for  his  own  sake,  yes,  for  his  own  safety,  protect  the 
city,  the  sanctuary,  the  citizens  of  Jerusalem.  We  could  and 
did  worship  other  gods.  We  could  and  did  worship  Jehovah 
with  immoral  rites.  We  permitted  our  priests  and  prophets 
to  deceive  and  rob  the  poor,  if  only  they  spoke  to  us  fair 
things  and  performed  the  orderly  rites  of  the  temple.  We 
could  and  did  break  faith  with  our  slaves,  and  cast  into  a 
miry  dungeon  the  bravest  man  in  Jerusalem.  But  there  has 
come  to  us  a  new  revelation  of  Jehovah.  We  are  surrounded 
by  the  gorgeous  temples  of  the  gods  of  the  nations ;  but  we 
know  that  Persia  and  Egypt  and  Tyre  and  the  mighty  hordes 
of  northern  savages  are  all  subject  to  the  will  of  Jehovah. 
The  gods  are  no-gods.  We  confess  that  we  did  think  of 
Jehovah  as  living  in  a  little  tent,  whose  floor  was  the  land  of 

345 


[XVI-7J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Judah;  we  know  now  that  heaven,  even  the  heaven  of  heavens, 
cannot  contain  him. 

We  know,  too,  that  Jehovah  is  the  God  of  history,  of  events. 
The  transactions  of  world  poHtics  but  magnify  Jehovah  and 
assure  mankind  that  he  is  the  Lord.  But  we  know,  too,  that 
Jehovah  is  the  God  of  the  individual,  to  whom  each  individual 
stands  in  personal  relations.  We  know  that  Jehovah  is  a 
forgiving  and  a  redeeming  God,  who  dooms  no  man  because 
of  his  relatives,  or  because  of  his  own  record,  who  delights  to 
give  even  the  most  'lost'  and  abandoned  a  second  chance. 
We  know,  too,  that  God's  Spirit  moves  upon  the  hearts  of 
communities  and  of  individuals,  stirring  them  as  by  divine 
breath  to  renewed  life  and  power. 

We  know  now  that  the  worship  of  Jehovah  is  not,  cannot, 
be  monopolized  by  a  single  shrine.  In  our  exile,  without  the 
temple,  we  have  had  such  intimate  fellowship  with  Jehovah 
as  Jeremiah  knew  in  the  earlier  days.  We  gather  in  our 
assemblies — a  new  and  wonderfully  helpful  feature  of  our 
life — we  read  together  the  story  of  our  race,  as  our  scribes 
have  copied  and  compiled  its  documents  for  our  edification ; 
we  ponder  and  seek  to  obey  the  old  legislation,  which  to  our 
reverent  thought  almost  takes  the  place  of  the  ancient  ark; 
we  follow  with  eager  zest  every  new  and  generous  deed  of 
Cyrus,  Jehovah's  new  messiah ;  we  speak  to  one  another  of 
*A  wonderful  day  a-coming,  when  all  shall  be  better  than  well.' 
Our  prophet  Ezekiel  died  some  three  decades  ago,  but  we 
and  our  scribes  are  doing  our  best  to  keep  the  Sabbath  law, 
and  every  other  law,  that  in  his  own  time  Jehovah  may  bring 
us  back  to  Zion.  Not  that  we  believe  we  deserve  anything 
at  the  hands  of  our  God.  Jehovah  is  going  to  restore  us  for 
his  own  name's  sake,  in  deference  to  his  own  self-consistency 
as  a  God  of  grace,  who  has  chosen  us  as  his  people. 

'Love  so  amazing,  so  divine, 
Demands  my  soul,  my  life,  my  all !' 

And  some  of  us  have  discovered  that  in  suffering  for  others, 
the  innocent  for  the  guilty,  we  can  find  the  deepest,  widest 

346 


EXILIC  HOPES  AND  EMPHASES        [XVI-q] 

channel  through  which  our  love  for  our  God  may  flow.  Yes, 
some  of  us  have  come  to  believe  that  our  own  suffering  may 
be  our  share  in  God's  redemptive  work  for  men." 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  What  factors  in  the  life  of  the  Exile  would  emphasize 
the  significance  of  the  individual? 

2.  What  factors  in  the  life  of  the  Exile  would  emphasize 
religion  as  an  inward  experience  rather  than  a  matter  of 
ceremonialism? 

3.  How  did  it  happen  that  the  period  which  taught  the  in- 
wardness of.  religion  should  make  such  great  advances  in  the 
study  and  the  elaboration  of  "Law"? 

4.  Would  you  expect  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  law 
and  similar  legislation  to'  further  religious  liberty,  or  bondage? 
Is  the  Psalmist  right,  who  says, 

"I  shall  walk  at  liberty ; 
For  I  have  sought  thy  precepts"?   (Psalm  119:45). 

5.  Would  you  excuse,  or  explain,  or  justify  the  hostile 
attitude  toward  foreign  nations  illustrated  by  the  prophecies 
of  Ezekiel  and  Obadiah? 

6.  Why  should  the  sufferings  of  the  innocent  be  redemp- 
tive? 

7.  Would  you  regard  as  redemptive  the  suffermgs  of  a 
soldier  in  a  just  cause,  or  would  you  say  that  only  he  suffers 
redemptively  who  attempts  no  physical  resistance  to  wrong? 

8.  In  what  particulars  would  you  expect  the  religion  of  an 
exile  in  538  B.  C.  to  differ  from  his  religion  in  586  B,  C.  ? 


347 


CHAPTER  XI 

The  Restored  City 

Currents  and  Cross  Currents  of  Thought 

in  the  Persian  Period 

(538-332  B.  C.) 

Seventeenth  Week,  First  Day. 

Introductory 

Our  studies  now  bring  us  into  the  Persian  period.  A  Ger- 
man general  remarks,  "The  only  certainty  about  war  is  un- 
certainty." Almost  the  same  statement  might  be  made  re- 
garding the  dates  and  data  of  our  period.  One  writer  says: 
"We  are  in  direst  need  of  information  as  to  the  history  of 
the  Jews  in  the  Persian  period."  Fortunately  the  uncertain- 
ties concern  matters  which  for  our  study  are  of  quite  sub- 
ordinate importance. 

The  years  are  marked  by  the  consolidation  and  slow  dis- 
integration of  the  Persian  empire.  They  are  marked,  too, 
by  the  building  of  the  second  temple,  the  rebuilding  of  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem,  the  systematization  and  enforcement  of 
the  priestly  code,  the  rise  of  the  synagogue,  the  appearance 
of  the  guilds  of  scribes,  the  final  establishment  of  Judaism. 

The  story  of  the  two  centuries  is  a  story  of  seemingly  con- 
tradictory emphases  of  thought :  ritual  vs.  heart-righteous- 
ness;  bigotry  vs.  world-wide  hospitality;  devotion  to  ac- 
credited theology  vs.  radical  skepticism.  The  achievements  of 
the  little-known  heroes  of  the  period  and  their  contributions 
to  the  life  of  Judaism  and  of  Christianity  are  beyond  the 
power  of  estimation. 

348 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVII-i] 

I.  Prophets  of  the  New  Temple 
a.  Haggai. 

Read  Haggai  i  to  3,  asking  yourself  whether  the  prophet's  em- 
phasis upon  the  temple  can  be  justified  in  the  light  of  the 
attitude  of  men  like  Amos,  Isaiah,  and  Jeremiah. 

As  we"  have  seen,  the  later  years  of  the  sixth  century  were 
amazed  by  the  victories  and  the  character  of  Cyrus.  A 
prophecy  from  a  writer  of  the  Exile  glories  in  the  coming 
doom  of  Babylon : 

Behold,  I  will  stir  up  the  Medes  against  them,  who 
shall  not  regard  silver,  and  as  for  gold,  they  shall  not 
delight  in  it.  And  their  bows  shall  dash  the  young  men 
in  pieces  ;  and  they  shall  have  no  pity  on  the  fruit  of 
the  womb ;  their  eye  shall  not  spare  children.  And 
Babylon,  the  glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty  of  the  Chal- 
deans' pride,  shall  be.  as  when  God  overthrew  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah.  It  shall  never  be  inhabited,  neither 
shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from  generation  to  generation : 
neither  shall  the  Arabian  pitch  tent  there ;  neither  shall 
shepherds  make  their  flocks  to  lie  down  there.  But 
wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  lie  there;  and  their 
houses  shall  be  full  of  doleful  creatures;  and  ostriches 
shall  dwell  there,  and  wild  goats  shall  dance  there.  And 
wolves  shall  cry  in  their  castles,  and  jackals  in  the 
pleasant  palaces :  and  her  time  is  near  to  come,  and  her 
days  shall  not  be  prolonged. — Isa.  13:  17-22.  ^ 

While  Cyrus  was  himself  a  Zoroastrian,  he  knew  the  politi- 
cal value  of  the  favorable  treatment  of  subject  gods.  He 
])rays :  "May  all  the  gods  whom  I  brought  into  their  own 
cities  daily  before  Bel  and  Nebo  pray  for  a  long  life  for  me. 
may  they  speak  a  gracious  word  for  me.'"  That  Cyrus  should 
respond  to  the  passionate  longing  of  men  whose  hearts  were 
in  Zion  is  not  strange.  In  the  twentieth  century,  statesmen 
not  famous  for  their  religious  enthusiasm  have  sympathized 
cordially  with  the  Zionist  movement.  But  when  at  last  the 
day  of  possible   deliverance   dawned,   when   the  ransomed  of 

1  Int.  Com.,  Ezra-Nehemiah,  p.  35- 

349 


[XVII-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Jehovah  had  the  chance  to  return  to  Jerusalem,  it  is  probable 
that  multitudes  did  not  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity. 
Many  of  the  exiles  had  attained  to  comfort  and  position  in 
Babj^on,  and  were  not  greatly  moved  by  ideal  interests.  How- 
ever disappointing  may  have  been  the  numbers  who  returned 
from  Babylon,  quite  certainly  many  joined  in  the  enterprise 
of  patriotism  who  had  been  living  in  Egypt,  but  still  counted 
Zion  above  their  chief  joy. 

The  leaders  ni  the  movement  for  the  restoration  of  the  city 
and  of  the  temple  could  depend,  too,  upon  the  cordial,  if 
ineffective,  cooperation  of  thousands  of  Jews  who  had  never 
known  exile,  but  had  clung  to  the  desolated  soil  of  the  home 
land  through  all  the  dismal  years.  These  poor  people,  whom 
their  conquerors  had  not  thought  worth  sending  into  exile, 
had  kept  the  great  memories  alive,  and  offered  sacrifices  on 
an  altar  amid  the  temple  ruins.  These  gladly  welcomed  the 
new  leaders  and  the  new  day. 

Soon  after  538  B.  C.  a  feeble  political  organization  de- 
veloped in  Jerusalem.  Up  from  the  midst  of  rubbish  heaps 
rose  paneled  houses.  Ecclesiastics  kept  the  sacrificial  altar 
aflame  with  the  appointed  offerings. 

But  there  came  to  the  pathetic  little  community  one  of  those 
ethical  and  religious  sags,  such  as  frequently  occur  after 
a  season  of  revival,  or  after  a  great  adventure  of  faith.  The 
foundations  of  the  temple  may  have  been  laid,  but  the  people 
shrank  from  the  enormous  undertaking  involved  in  erecting 
a  temple  which  should  for  an  instant  compare  with  that  of 
Solomon,  still  remembered  by  older  men.  But  world  politics 
joined  with  religious  and  nationalistic  hopes  to  stir  to  life 
the  purpose  to  build  again  the  temple. 

In  529  B.  C.  Cyrus  died.  His  son  Cambyses  swept  down 
into  Egypt,  and  "added  it  to  his  empire."  On  his  return  from 
Egypt,  he  committed  suicide.  "A  Magian  impostor"  seized 
the  throne.  He  was  speedily  killed  by  a  party  of  nobles,  who 
enthroned  one  of  their  own  number,  Darius  I.  In  this  transi- 
tion period,  with  its  fears  and  hopes,  Haggai  uttered  his 
prophecy  in  Jerusalem : 

350 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVII-2] 

Thus  speaketh  Jehovah  of  hosts,  saying,  This  people 
say.  It  is  not  the  time  for  us  to  come,  the  time  for 
Jehovah's  house  to  be  built.  Then  came  the  word  of 
Jehovah  by  Haggai  the  prophet,  saying,  Is  it  a  time  for 
you  yourselves  to  dwell  in  your  ceiled  houses,  while 
this  house  lieth  waste?  Now  therefore  thus  saith 
Jehovah  of  hosts :  Consider  your  ways.  Ye  have  sown 
much,  and  bring  in  little ;  ye  eat,  but  ye  have  not 
enough ;  ye  drink,  but  ye  are  not  filled  with  drink ;  ye 
clothe  you,  but  there  is  none  warm ;  and  he  that  earneth 
wages  earneth  wages  to  put  it  into  a  bag  with  holes. 

Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts :  Consider  your  ways. 
Go  up  to  the  mountain,  and  bring  wood,  and  build  the 
house;  and  I  will  take  pleasure  in  it,  and  I  will  be 
glorified,  saith  Jehovah.  Ye  looked  for  much,  and,  lo, 
it  came  to  little  ;  and  when  ye  brought  it  home,  I  did 
blow  upon  it.  Why?  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts.  Because 
of  my  house  that  lieth  waste,  while  ye  run  every  man 
to  his  own  house.  Therefore  for  your  sake  the  heavens 
withhold  the  dew,  and  the  earth  withholdeth  its  fruit. 
And  I  called  for  a  drought  upon  the  land,  and  upon 
the  mountains,  and  upon  the  grain,  and  upon  the  new- 
wine,  and  upon  the  oil,  and  upon  that  which  the  ground 
bringeth  forth,  and  upon  men,  and  upon  cattle,  and 
upon  all  the  labor  of  the  hands. — Hag.  i  :2-ii. 

His  message  was  this  :  "Build  again,  and  your  community 
will  live  again.  Nature  herself  curses  you  because  of  your 
neglect  of  God's  house.  Will  you  dwell  in  ceiled  houses, 
while  the  temple  lies  desolate?  You  put  on  clothes,  but  none 
is  warm;  you  put  your  wages  in  bags  which  are  full  of  holes." 

Seventeenth  Week,  Second  Day. 

The  eft'ect  of  Haggai's  preaching  was  extraordinary.  The 
building  was  pushed.  Aged  men  standing  by  shook  their 
heads,  and  said,  "You  ought  to  have  seen  the  old  temple. 
There  was  a  temple  worth  building!"     But  Haggai  replied: 

Who   is   left  among  you   that   saw  this   house  in   its 

former  glory?  and  how  do  ye  see  it  now?  is  it  not  in 

■  your  eyes  as  nothing?  .  .  .  fear  ye  not.     For  thus  saith 

Jehovah  of  hosts:  Yet  once,  it  is  a  little  while,  and  I 

will  shake  the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  and  the  sea,  and 

351 


[XVII-2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

the  dry  land ;  and  I  will  shake  all  nations ;  and  the 
precious  things  of  all  nations  shall  come;  and  I  will 
fill  this  house  with  glory,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts.  The 
silver  is  mine,  and  the  gold  is  mine,  saith  Jehovah  of 
hosts.  The  latter  glory  of  this  house  shall  be  greater 
than  the  former,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts;  and  in  this 
place  will  I  give  peace,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts. — Hag. 
2 :  3,  5b-9. 

Thus  with  courageous  words  the  prophet  braced  the  hearts 
of  his  friends  for  the  great  task. 

b.  Zcchariah. 

Read  Zech  3  and  4  to  appreciate  the  prophet's  literary  quality 
and  his  spirit. 

Zechariah  the  priest  cooperated  with  Haggai  the  layman 
in  holding  the  people  to  their  hard,  almost  heart-breaking 
task. 

(i)   Ritual,  the  Clothing,  Not  the  Body  of  True  Religion. 

In  both  Haggai  and  Zechariah  we  see  the  persistence  of 
the  emphasis  upon  ritual,  which  we  saw  developing  in  the 
Exile.  Like  Amos,  or  any  other  pre-exilic  prophet,  Haggai 
attributes  crop  failure  to  sin ;  but  to  him  the  chief  sin  is  not 
injustice  or  cruelty,  but  failure  to  build  the  temple.  In  Zech- 
ariah there  is  a  glorious  reiteration  of  the  old  prophetic 
teaching.  People  come  to  him  to  ask,  "Should  I  weep  in  the 
fifth  month,  separating  myself,  as  I  have  done  these  so  many 
years?"  (Zech.  7:3).  And  the  prophet  tells  tliem  that  they 
have  been  fasting  and  feasting,  not  to  please  Jehovah  but 
to  please  themselves.  "And  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  unto 
Zechariah,  saying.  Thus  hath  Jehovah  of  hosts  spoken,  saying, 
Execute  true  judgment,  and  show  kindness  and  compassion 
every  man  to  his  brother ;  and  oppress  not  the  widow,  nor 
the  fatherless,  the  sojourner,  nor  the  poor;  and  let  none  of 
you  devise  evil  against  his  brother  in  your  heart"  (Zech. 
7:8-10).     There  rings  out  the  authentic  prophetic  note. 

Again,  with  all  his   insistence  on   ritual,   there  is  in  Zech- 

352 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVII-2] 

ariah  a  notable  emphasis  upon  the  heart  religion  which  Jere- 
miah and  Ezekiel  knew,  which  finds  perhaps  its  simple,  suffic- 
ing expression  in  the  words  of  Paul,  "When  I  am  weak,  then 
am  I  strong." 

Then  he  answered  and  spake  unto  me,  saving,  This 
is  the  word  of  Jehovah  unto  Zerubbabel,  saying,  Not  by 
might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  Jehovah  of 
hosts.  Who  art  thou,  O  great  mountain?  before  Zerub- 
babel thou  shalt  become  a  plain ;  and  he  shall  bring 
forth  the  top  stone  with  shoutings  of  Grace,  grace,  unto 
it.  Moreover  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  unto  me,  say- 
ing, The  hands  of  Zerubbabel  have  laid  the  foundation 
of  this  house;  his  hands  shall  also  finish  it;  and  thou 
shalt  know  that  Jehovah  of  hosts  hath  sent  me  unto 
you.  For  who  hath  despised  the  day  of  small  things? 
for  these  seven  shall  rejoice,  and  shall  see  the  plummet 
in  the  hand  of  Zerubbabel ;  these  are  the  eyes  of  Jeho- 
vah, which  run  to  and  fro  through  the  whole  earth. — 
Zech,  4 :  6-10. 

A  man  never  ceases  to  marvel  at  this  miracle  of  religion — a 
little  group  of  weak  men,  meeting  and  mastering  a  great  task 
by  means  of  a  great  faith.  Here,  for  example,  we  see  the 
Pilgrims  in  the  midst  of  the  horrors  of  their  first  winter.  At 
one  time  there  were  but  five  of  the  little  company  well  enough 
to  care  for  the  sick  and  to  bury  the  dead.  In  three  months 
but  fifty  of  the  Pilgrims  survived.  The  work  of  the  spring 
was  begun  by  twenty-one  men  and  six  growing  lads.  And 
then  the  Mayflower  sailed  back  to  England,  and  the  captain 
was 

"Glad  to  be  gone  from  a  land  of  sand  and  sickness  and  sorrow. 
Short  allowance  of  victual,  and  plenty  of  nothing  but  gospel." 

But 

"O   strong  hearts  and  true,  not  one  went  back  in  the  May- 
flower ; 
No,  not  one  looked  back  who  had  set  his  hand  to  that  plow- 
ing." 

Builders  of  a  beautiful  temple  of  God  on  this  side  of  the  sea, 
the  Pilgrims  knew  that  their  weakness  mated  God's  strength. 

353 


1XVII-3J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

No  man  need  despise  or  fear  the  day  of  small  things  if  he 
has  a  great  task  and  a  great  God. 

"For,  note :  man's  hand,  first  formed  to  carry 
A  few  pounds'  weight,  when  taught  to  marry 
Its  strength  with  an  engine's,  lifts  a  mountain." 

(2)  Jerusalem,  the  Friendly  Haven  for  All  Souls 

We  noticed  in  Ezekiel  a  turgid  description  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  all  the  enemies  of  the  house  of  Israel.  It  is  impres- 
sive by  contrast  to  read  the  words  of  Zechariah : 

And  the  inhabitants  of  one  city  shall  go  to  another, 
saying,  Let  us  go  speedily  to  entreat  the  favor  of  Jeho- 
vah, and  to  seek  Jehovah  of  hosts:  I  will  go  also.  Yea, 
many  peoples  and  strong  nations  shall  come  to  seek 
Jehovah  of  hosts  in  Jerusalem,  and  to  entreat  the  favor 
of  Jehovah. — Zech.  8:21,  22. 

This  man,  who  would  probably  call  himself  a  second-rate 
prophet,  who  buttresses  his  words  by  the  messages  of  previous 
prophets,  stands  forth  in  the  sour,  barren  years  to  proclaim 
to  a  hard-pressed  people,  hungry  at  heart,  that  their  God  is 
going  to  be  sought  after  by  the  mighty  idolatrous  nations  of 
the  world.  For  this  man,  Jehovah  is  the  transcendent  ruler 
of  the  universe,  who  sends  his  fleet  messengers  to  all  points 
of  the  compass.  He  is  a  forgiving  God,  who  bears  wickedness 
away  to  a  far  land.  He  is  a  God  whose  spirit  is  stronger 
than  any  earthly  "might  or  power." 

Seventeenth  Week,  Third  Day, 

(3)  The  New  Temple  and  the  New  King. 

We  observed  that  in  the  Exile  prophetic  hearts  looked  for- 
ward to  a  prince  of  the  House  of  David,  who  should  find  his 
chief  function  in  serving  the  interests  of  the  temple.  In 
Haggai  and  Zechariah  we  see  the  high  priest,  Joshua,  sharing 
the  responsibility  of  temple-building  with  one  Zerubbabel, 
the  governor  of  the  little  Jewish  state,  "the  grandson  of 
Jehoiachin."      Haggai    hints    quite    boldly    that    this    heir    of 

354 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVir-4] 

Davidic  hopes  may   in  the  days  of  universal  chaos  at  hand 
inherit  the  throne  of  David. 

And  I  will  overthrow  the  throne  of  kingdoms;  and 
I  will  destroy  the  strength  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  na- 
tions ;  and  I  will  overthrow  the  chariots,  and  those  that 
ride  in  them ;  and  the  horses  and  their  riders  shall 
come  down,  every  one  by  the  sword  of  his  brother.  In 
that  day,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts,  will  I  take  thee,  O 
Zerubbabel,  my  servant,  the  son  of  Shealtiel,  saith  Jeho- 
vah, and  will  make  thee  as  a  signet;  for  I  have  chosen 
thee,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts. — Hag.  2 :  22,  23. 

Again  Zechariah  bids  several  of  his  friends  from  Babylon 
to  make  a  crown  (see  margin)  and  lay  it  up  in  the  temple, 
for  the  man  whose  name  is  the  Branch,  who  shall  build  the 
temple.  It  is  probable  that  the  prophet  is  thinking  of  a 
crown,  not  for  Joshua  the  high-priest  (as  the  present  reading 
has  it)  but  for  Zerubbabel,  the  heir  to  David's  throne  (Zech. 
6:9-15). 

From  the  time  of  these  prophecies  we  hear  no  more  of 
the  activity  of  Zerubbabel,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  Persian 
authorities  thought  it  not  well  to  keep  as  their  representative 
in  Jerusalem  one  whose  lineage  might  prove  political  dyna- 
mite. 

We  shall  remember  Haggai  and  Zechariah  as  brothers  of 
the  spirit,  responsive  students  of  the  teachings  of  the  Exile. 
We  shall  remember  them  even  more  as  the  two  men  whose 
stern  and  hopeful  words  were  the  music  to  keep  the  weary 
toilers  at  their  task  of  temple  building. 

Seventeenth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

2.  AIalachi — God's  Messenger  to  the  Listless 

Read    Mai.    i    for    the   prophet's    arraignment   of   priest   and 
people. 

During  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century  great  events  were 
happening  in  the  Persian  Empire.  Darius  held  his  dominion 
over    Egypt,    but    lost   to    the   Greeks    the   decisive   battle    of 

355 


[XV11-4J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Marathon.  In  485  B.  C.  his  son,  Xerxes,  grandson  of  Cyrus, 
came  to  the  throne.  With  lavish  outlay  of  time  and  men  and 
money,  the  new  ruler  determined  to  avenge  the  defeat  of 
Marathon.  Two  bridges  he  flung  across  the  Hellespont.  A 
channel  was  dug  through  the  peninsula  of  Mount  Athos.  But 
he  lost  the  battle  of  Salamis  (480  B.  C).  The  battle  of 
Platiea  completed  the  Persian  downfall  in  Europe.  The  later 
days  of  Xerxes  find  him  amid  the  intrigues  of  the  court.  In 
465  B.  C.  he  was  assassinated.  Artaxerxes  I,  his  younger 
son,  appears  to  have  been  "a  kind,  good-natured,  but  rather 
weak  monarch."  He  managed  to  conclude  a  reasonable  treaty 
with  the  Greeks,  but  his  empire  "had  reached  a  period  of 
stagnation." 

In  those  days,  when  Asia  was  facing  Europe,  and  the  forces 
of  the  Orient  were  streaming  into  the  West,  the  life  of  the 
restored  city  must  have  been  agitated  by  the  tides  sweeping 
over  the  nations. 

From  the  comparative  darkness  of  the  period  there  emerges 
a  prophecy,  called  "Malachi,"  or  "My  Messenger."  It  throws 
a  lurid  light  upon  conditions  in  the  little  Jewish  state  at 
approximately  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century.  Anyone  who 
has  helped  to  build  a  church  will  testify  that  the  happiest 
days  are  not  those  of  the  completed  edifice,  but  the  days  when 
the  church  is  on  the  way  to  certain  completion.  The  second 
temple  was  indeed  finished.  Most  of  those  who  took  part  in 
the  task  had  passed  away.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  "dedication 
exercises"  had  long  ago  faded.  And  now  the  priests  them- 
selves were  slovenly  and  sacrilegious  in  their  temple  service. 
The  very  table  of  Jehovah  had  become  contemptible  to  them. 
"When  ye  offer  the  blind  for  sacrifice,  it  is  no  evil !  and  when 
ye  offer  the  lame  and  sick,  it  is  no  evil !"  It  is  possible  that 
the  priests  were  getting  an  ecclesiastical  graft  by  substituting 
blemished  beasts  for  the  "perfect"  beasts  presented  by  the 
worshipers.  Or  they  condoned  the  people's  offerings  of  the 
sick,  the  blind,  or  the  lame.  "Present  it  now  unto  thy  gov- 
ernor; will  he  be  pleased  with  thee?  or  will  he  accept  thy 
person?  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts"  (1:8). 

356 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVII-4J 

a.  Listlessness  and  License. 

But  behind  the  cold  and  callous  formalism  of  the  priest- 
hood there  was  rottenness  of  personal  life.  The  priests  had 
turned  aside  out  of  the  way  and  had  respect  of  persons  in  the 
law. 

Again,  like  priest,  like  people.  The  people  were  robbing 
God.  But  they  wanted  to  know  in  what  they  were  robbing 
God.  'Tn  tithes  and  offerings."  Yes,  the  whole  nation  was 
engaged  in  this  robbery  of  the  "great  King." 

Yet  with  the  people,  too,  this  failure  in  ritual  was  to  the 
prophet's  thought  the  fruitage  of  a  failure  in  morals.  Sor- 
cerers, adulterers,  false  swearers,  oppressors  of  course  would 
not  regard  the  offerings  due  to  Jehovah. 

The  most  grievous  charge  laid  against  the  morals  of  the 
people  was  this:  Men  were  divorcing  their  Jewish  wives,  and 
marrying  "non-Jewish  women  belonging  to  the  influential  but 
mongrel  families  of  the  vicinity."^ 

b.  License  and  Skepticism. 

In  the  lives  both  of  priests  and  people,  behind  the  tired 
formalism  and  the  injustice  and  the  treachery  toward  the 
women  whose  trust  and  love  of  the  years  had  been  betrayed, 
there  was  a  chilling  skepticism.  We  have  caught  a  glimpse 
of  this  skepticism  before.  Far  back  in  the  seventh  century, 
Zephaniah  had  met  men  who  said  that  Jehovah  would  do 
neither  good  nor  evil.  Malachi  now  faces  men  who  say : 
"Jehovah  claims  that  he  loves  us ;  wherein  has  he  loved  us  ?" 
or  again,  "Where  is  the  God  of  justice?  Everyone  that  does 
evil  is  good  in  the  sight  of  this  God  of  yours";  or  again,  "It 
is  vain  to  serve  God;  and  what  profit  is  it  that  we  have  kept 
his  charge,  and  that  we  have  walked  mournfully  before  Jeho- 
vah of  hosts?  And  now  we  call  the  proud  happy;  yea, 
they  that  work  wickedness  are  built  up ;  yea,  they  tempt  God 
and  escape."    We  shall  meet  with  more  of  this  skepticism  as 


2  Some  writers  hold  that  forbidden  marriages  refer  to  a  relapse  into  idol- 
atrous worship.     But  see  Int.  Com.  Malachi,  p.  7. 

357 


[XVII-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

we  go  on  in  our  studies.  "We  are  tired  of  the  exactions  of 
this  God  we  are  supposed  to  worship.  This  tithe-giving, 
these  sacrifices  of  beasts  and  of  pleasures,  bring  no  return. 
The  fact  is  the  people  who  defy  the  ritual  and  the  moral  law 
prosper  like  a  green  bay  tree." 

Is  the  anonymous  prophet  big  enough  to  master  the  situa- 
tion? 

c.  God's  Love. 

First,  he  insists  that  God  loves  His  people.  He  seeks  to 
prove  it  by  the  recent  defeat  of  the  Edomites,  whose  jeers 
and  hatred  and  aggressions  have  always  rankled  in  the  breasts 
of  the  Jews.  But  then  he  insists  that  God's  love  cannot  work 
its  perfect  work  upon  the  indifferent,  the  heedless,  the  hateful. 

d.  God's  Love,  and  the  Reward  of  Worthy  Worship. 

The  prophet  has  a  profound  belief  in  the  importance  of 
ritual : 

Bring  ye  the  whole  tithe  into  the  store-house,  that 
there  may  be  food  in  my  house,  and  prove  nie  now 
herewith,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts,  if  I  will  not  open  you 
the  windows  of  heaven,  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing, 
that  there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it.  And 
I  will  rebuke  the  devourer  for  your  sakes,  and  he  shall 
not  destroy  the  fruits  of  your  ground ;  neither  shall 
your  vine  cast  its  fruit  before  the  time  in  the  field, 
saith  Jehovah  of  hosts.  And  all  nations  shall  call  you 
happy;  for  ye  shall  be  a  delightsome  land,  saith  Jeho- 
vah of  hosts. — Mai.  3  :  10-12. 

An  appropriate  and  ample  fulfilment  of  the  ceremonial  law 
will  mean  abundant  and  undamaged  crops,  a  delightsome  land. 

e.  God's  Love,  and  the  Reward  of  Worthy  Conduct. 

But  this  insistence  upon  ritual  does  not  stand  alone.  The 
prophet,  while  feeling  the  importance  of  the  worthy  organiza- 
tion of  religion,  knows  well  that  the  organization  of  religion 
can  be  worth ful  only  as  it  is  the  clothing  of  the  religion  of 
the  heart.     Again  we  hear  the  familiar  words,  justice,  kind- 

358 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVII-5] 

ness.  In  a  fashion  found  nowhere  else  in  the  Old  Testament 
he  denounces  divorce.  "I  hate  putting  away,  saith  Jehovah, 
the  God  of  Israel."  Thus  the  prophet  rises  above  the  legis- 
lation of  his  people,  which  permitted  polygamy  and  easy 
divorce  far  down  to  the  end  of  the  Jewish  state.  It  is  true 
that  the  immediate  reason  for  his  denunciation  is  the  foreign 
marital  alliances  of  his  fellow-citizens,  which  prevent  God's 
finding  in  Israel  "a  godly  seed."  But  Malachi,  with  unerring 
wisdom,  sees  that  the  reconstruction  of  the  family  is  the 
inexorable  demand  of  God. 

Seventeenth  Week,  Fifth  Day, 

f.  The  Day  of  Division, 

So  the  prophet  proclaims  again  The  Day.  For  him  The 
Day  is  not  the  day  of  Israel's  destruction,  nor  yet  of  her 
salvation.  The  Day  is  a  day  of  division.  It  shall  burn  as  a 
furnace,  for  which  the  proud  and  wicked  shall  be  as  stubble. 
But  God  is  keeping  "a  memorandum"  for  those  that  fear 
Jehovah  and  think  upon  his  name,  and  in  that  day  he  will 
spare  them  as  a  man  spareth  his  own  son  that  serveth  him 
(3:i6fif.).  To  the  prophet's  thought,  the  divine  rewards 
are  apparently  still  in  the  realm  of  the  life  this  side  the  grave, 
but  we  cannot  believe  that  immortality  would  be  to  him  an 
impossible  conception. 

We  see  then  in  Malachi  one  who  has  drunk  deep  of  the 
fountain  of  exilic  inspiration.  The  clothes  of  the  priest  are 
worn  by  the  prophet,  but  they  do  not  hide  the  prophet  nor 
stifle  his  voice.  His  God  is  the  great  king,  above  any  earthly 
pasha.  His  God  will  brook  no  languid  and  slovenly  obedi- 
ence, of  either  the  laws  of  ceremony  or  of  character.  But 
he  loves — tenderly,  passionately.  Yes,  and  one  is  tempted 
to  add,  his  God  loves  narrowly,  with  a  love  of  Israel  which 
involves  necessarily  the  hatred  of  Edom,  whom  Israel  hates. 
There  is  one  verse  which  may  express  a  very  wonderful  con- 
trast with  the  thought  of  God's  narrow  love:  "From  the  rising 
of  the  sun  even  unto  the  going  down  of  the  same  my  name 

359 


lXVII-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

>hali  be  (or  is)  great  among  the  Gentiles  (nations)  ;  and  in 
every  place  incense  shall  be  (or  is)  offered  unto  my  name, 
and  a  pure  offering:  for  my  name  shall  be  (or  is)  great 
among  the  Gentiles  (nations),  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts"  (i :  ii). 
One  would  be  glad  to  believe  that  the  writer  not  only  recog- 
nizes the  sincerity  of  the  devotion  of  the  heathen,  but  actually 
sees,  amid  all  the  superstitions  of  idolatry,  the  ascent  of  the 
heathen  heart  to  the  unknown  God,  Israel's  God,  Jehovah. 
But  it  seems  more  probable  that  Malachi  is  thinking  of  the 
pure  and  perfect  offerings  made  by  the  Jews  dispersed  in  many 
lands.    Jerusalem  alone  disgraces  the  throne  of  God's  glory. 

Malachi  is  a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness  of  the  fifth 
century  in  the  Judean  state,  bidding  slovenly,  surly,  skeptical 
people  to  prepare  the  way  of  Jehovah,  to  make  straight  in 
the  desert  God's  highway. 

It  has  been  questioned  whether  any  prophet,  familiar  with 
Deuteronomy,  j:ould  imagine  that  pure  offerings  might  be 
rendered  to  Jehovah  upon  any  other  altar  than  that  at  Jeru- 
salem. But  in  1906-7  archeologists  working  upon  the  island 
of  Elephantine  "in  the  Nile,  opposite  Assuan,  a  city  on  the 
eastern  bank  of  the  river"  made  a  most  illuminating  discovery. 
They  found  many  papyri,  written  in  Aramaic,  and  "definitely 
dated  between  the  years  471  and  411  B.  C."  The  documents 
give  evidence  of  a  large  and  flourishing  Jewish  colony,  which- 
must  have  existed  for  many  years,  perhaps  as  far  back  as  the 
days  of  Jeremiah.  Among  the  most  important  finds  is  that 
of  a  document,  written  in  408-7  by  the  Jews  of  Elephantine 
to  the  Persian  governor  of  Judea.  The  letter  tells  of  their 
own  temple,  with  its  five  gates  "built  of  hewn  stone  .  .  . 
with  bronze  hinges,"  speaks  of  its  pillars  of  stone,  and  its 
roof,  "made  wholly  of  cedar  wood."  The  writers  go  on  to 
say  that  this  temple  was  left  unscathed  by  Cambyses,  who  in 
his  day  had  destroyed  temples  of  the  Egyptians,  but  that 
recently  a  minor  official  with  the  aid  of  Egyptians  had  de- 
stroyed their  temple.  "And  since  they  have  done  this,  we 
with  our  wives  and  children  have  put  on  sackcloth  and  fasted 
and  prayed  to  Jahu,  the  Lord  of  heaven."     The  letter  be- 

360 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVII-6] 

seeches  Bagohi  the  governor:  "If  it  seem  good  to  our  lord, 
mayest  thou  think  about  this  temple  to  rebuild  it,  since  we 
are  not  permitted  to  build  it  .  .  .  And  we  will  offer  meat- 
offerings and  frankincense  and  burnt  offerings  upon  the 
altar  of  the  God  Jahu  in  thy  name.  And  we  will  pray  for 
thee  at  all  times,  we  and  our  wives  and  our  children  and  all 
the  Jews  who  are  here  when  this  will  be  done,  until  the 
temple  is  built.  And  thou  shalt  have  a  portion  before  Jahu, 
the  God  of  Heaven."  The  discovery,  important  for  many 
reasons,  makes  it  certain  that,  immediately  after  the  re- 
storation of  Jerusalem  and  through  many  decades,  Jews  in 
Egypt  were  in  all  good  conscience  worshiping  Jehovah  in 
their  own  temple,  although,  with  their  easy  access  to  Jeru- 
salem, they  may  well  have  been  familiar  with  the  Deutero- 
nomic  Code  and  its  demands.  The  discovery  confirms  us 
in  our  view  of  the  favorable  attitude  of  the  earlier  Persian 
rulers  toward  the  Jewish  faith ;  and  further  helps  us  to  realize 
how  the  Jewish  faith  penetrated  into  the  Gentile  world,  there 
to  make  ready  for  the  monotheism  of  Jesus.^ 

Seventeenth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

3.  Nehemiah^  the  Builder  of  the  Walls 

Read  Neh.,  Chapters  i  and  4,  for  an  understanding  of  Nehe- 
miah's  problem  and  character. 

Malachi  looked  forward  to  a  Day  of  Division.  As  he 
studied  his  little  world  of  Judah,  he  must  have  thought  The 
Day  at  hand.  The  chasm  was  already  deepening  between 
"the  wicked"  and  "those  that  feared  Jehovah,  and  that 
thought  upon  his  name." 

In  the  memoirs  of  Nehemiah  we  have  a  dramatic  picture 
of  the  situation  in  Jerusalem  shortly  after  the  supposed  date 
of  Malachi,  and  a  record  as  well  of  one  of  the  most  attractive 
characters  in  the  Old  Testament  and  of  one  of  the  most 
significant  movements  in  the  history  of  the  restored  city. 

3  For  facsimile  of  letter,  and  discussion,  see  Report  of  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution, 1907,  p.  605.     Also  see  Nineteenth  Century,  191 1.  P-  ii3Sff- 

361 


[XVII-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

a.  Xchcmiah's  Call. 

Now  I  was  cupbearer  to  the  king.  And  it  came  to 
pass  in  the  month  Nisan,  in  the  twentieth  year  of  Ar- 
taxerxes  the  king,  when  wine  was  before  him,  that  I 
took  up  the  wnie,  and  gave  it  unto  the  king.  Now  I 
had  not  been  be  foretime  sad  in  his  presence.  And  the 
king  said  unto  me,  Why  is  thy  countenance  sad,  seeing 
thou  art  not  sick?  this  is  nothing  else  but  sorrow  of 
heart.  Then  I  was  very  sore  afraid.  And  I  said  unto 
the  king,  Let  the  king  Hve  for  ever :  why  should  not  my 
countenance  be  sad,  when  the  city,  the  place  of  my 
fathers'  sepulchres,  lieth  waste,  and  the  gates  thereof 
are  consumed  with  fire?  Then  the  king  said  unto  me, 
For  what  dost  thou  make  request?  So  I  prayed  to  the 
God  of  heaven.  And  I  said  unto  the  king.  If  it  please 
the  king,  and  if  thy  servant  have  found  favor  in  thy 
sight,  that  thou  wouldest  send  me  unto  Judah,  unto  the 
city  of  my  fathers'  sepulchres,  that  I  may  build  it.  And 
the  king  said  unto  me  (the  queen  also  sitting  by  him), 
For  how  long  shall  thy  journey  be?  and  when  wilt 
thou  return?  So  it  pleased  the  king  to  send  me;  and 
I  set  him  a  time. — Neh.  2:  1-6. 


In  every  land  of  their  sojourn  the  Jews  have  risen  to  posi- 
tions of  power.  A  cupbearer  at  the  Persian  court,  Nehemiah 
held  a  place  of  distinction,  at  the  same  time  a  place  of  peril, 
for  he  held  it  at  the  pleasure  of  an  Oriental  despot.  A  kins- 
man of  Nehemiah  introduced  to  him  some  pilgrims  from 
Judah,  who  informed  him  that  the  citizens  of  Jerusalem  were 
in  great  distress  and  contempt,  and  that  the  walls  of  the 
city  were  broken  down,  and  the  gates  burned  with  fire.  The 
temple  had  now  been  standing  for  seventy  years.  The  city 
walls  which  had  been  razed  by  Nebuchadrezzar  in  586  B.  C. 
had  been,  it  would  seem,  partly  restored,  but  had  been  breached 
and  rendered  useless  by  the  enemies  of  the  little  Jewish  state. 
To  Nehemiah  the  city's  distress  was  God's  call.  The  genius 
of  patriotism  appears  in  this  man.  His  appeal  to  his  royal 
master  was  shrewdly  stated.  He  did  not  ask  to  restore  the 
ancient  walls,  for  the  request  would  have  aroused  the  king's 
suspicions:   "The  city,  the  place   of   my   fathers'   sepulchres, 

362 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVII-6] 

lieth  waste,  and  the  gates   thereof   are   consumed  with   fire" 
(2:3). 

With  authorization  from  Artaxerxes,  and  with  a  sufficient 
bodyguard,  Nehemiah  made  his  way  to  Jerusalem  (444  B.  C.). 
A  private  examination  of  the  walls  revealed  facts  worse 
than  he  had  feared.  But  such  were  the  man's  skill,  general- 
ship, and  resource  that  against  frightful  odds  he  and  his 
comrades  built  the  city  walls,  according  to  the  record,  in  fifty- 
two  days. 

b.  The  Democracy  of  Toil. 

We  read  that  the  people  of  the  city  and  from  the  surround- 
ing villages  enrolled  in  the  democracy  of  toil.  Here  worked 
the  high  priest  and  his  family,  there  the  villagers  of  Jericho, 
there  the  citizens  of  Mizpah.  There  were  poor  men,  rulers 
of  districts,  princes.  Goldsmiths,  with  hands  like  those  of  a 
musician,  now  worked  in  wood  and  stone.  Women  of  royal 
blood  bore  upon  their  heads  baskets  filled  with  rubbish  from 
the  ruined  walls. 

Division  and  discord  have  been  usually  the  price  men  have 
paid  for  democracy;  but  there  seems  to  have  been  the  most 
perfect  coordination  of  the  toilers.  Next  to  the  high  priest 
builded  the  men  of  Jericho,  next  to  them  the  son  of  Imri, 
next  unto  him  .  .  .  next  unto  them  .  .  .  next  unto  them  .  .  . 
so  the  record  reads  for  an  entire  chapter.  Again,  Nehemiah 
had  the  good  judgment  to  set  each  man  to  work  over  against 
his  own  house.  A  breach  in  the  wall,  which  had  given  a 
fine  view  into  the  country  and  given  access  to  invaders,  was 
stopped  up  by  ancient  stones  which  had  been  used  for  door- 
steps and  private  walls.  So  they  labored,  and  prayed  to  the 
God  of  heaven,  and  finished  the  wall.  But  the  task  was  not 
an  easy  one. 

c.  The  Hinderers. 

(i)  There  were  certain  important  people  who  took  no  part 
in  the  work.  The  nobles  of  Tekoa  put  not  their  necks  to  the 
work  of  the  Lord  (see  3:5). 


[XVII-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

(2)  The  peasants,  who  had  gladly  responded  to  the  call 
of  the  patriot,  were  harassed  by  debt  and  oppression.  The 
crops  had  been  bad,  and  the  poor  had  mortgaged  their  fields 
and  vineyards  to  the  rich,  and  were  now  forced  to  sell  their 
very  children  into  bondage  to  their  own  countrymen.  Nehe- 
miah  summoned  to  him  the  cannibals,  who  would  feed  on 
their  own  flesh  and  blood,  and  bade  them  forego  their  usury, 
give  back  the  fieldb  and  vineyards,  and  liberate  those  whom 
they  had  enslaved.  The  personality  of  the  man  and  his  own 
generous  example  won  the  day  for  the  peasants  and  the  slaves. 

(3)  There  were  three  men  most  hostile  and  most  dangerous 
to  the  enterprise.  The  first  was  Sanballat,  mentioned  in  one 
of  the  Elephantine  papyri  as  "the  governor  of  Samaria."  It 
will  be  remembered  that  when  northern  Israel  fell  to  the 
Assyrians  (cf.  p.  227)  and  the  best  people  of  Samaria  were 
carried  into  captivity,  there  were  colonists  from  other  parts 
of  the  empire  who  came  to  take  their  place.  It  is  said  of 
these  colonists  that  they  feared  Jehovah  and  served  their  own 
gods.  It  would  seem  that  they  mingled  somewhat  freely  with 
the  poor  Israelites  who  were  left  upon  the  land.  As  the  years 
had  gone  on,  these  mongrel  people  were  held  together  by 
governors  under  the  appointment  of  the  great  empires  which 
succeeded  each  other  in  the  control  of  Asia.  These  people 
of  the  north  came  from  time  to  time  to  make  ofterings  at 
Jerusalem,  and  felt  that  they  had  as  much  right  to  the  capital 
of  Israel  as  did  the  citizens  of  Judah.  The  ancient  jealousies 
between  the  north  and  the  south  had  never  died.  Sanballat, 
the  governor  of  Samaria,  nursed  these  jealousies  in  his  own 
personal  or  provincial  interest.  He  saw  clearly  that  Jeru- 
salem, surrounded  by  strong  walls,  was  no  longer  an  easy 
prey  and  might  lose  to  him  his  own  leadership.  A  fellow- 
conspirator  was  Tobiah,  the  Ammonite,  called  in  contempt 
"the  slave."  These  men,  with  another  styled  "the  Arabian," 
tried  various  methods  to  undo  Nehemiah  and  his  enterprise. 

(a)  They  tried  laughter:  "What  are  these  feeble  Jews 
doing?  will  they  fortify  themselves?  .  .  .  will  they  revive 
the  stones  out  of  the  heaps  of  rubbish,  seeing  they  are  burned? 

364 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVII-7] 

...  if  a  fox  go  up,  he  shall  break  down  their  stone  wall" 
(4:2,  3). 

(b)  They  tried  to  trap  Nehemiah  into  a  "conference."  "Let 
us  all  get  together."  "But  they  thought  to  do  me  mischief" 
(6:2). 

(c)  They  tried  innuendo.  The  Persian  authorities  were 
well  aware  of  the  nationalistic  and  revolutionary  tendencies 
of  the  Jews.  The  foes  of  Nehemiah  now  charged  him  with 
announcing  himself  a  king,  with  the  aid  of  prophets  appointed 
in  the  good  old-fashioned  way.  Failing  to  frighten  the 
patriot, 

(d)  They  themselves  bribed  a  "prophet,"  who  sought  to 
induce  Nehemiah  to  conceal  himself  for  safety  (?)  in  the 
temple.    As  this  device  met  with  no  better  success, 

(e)  Tobiah  now  tried  his  hand  alone,  and  entered  into  a 
vigorous  correspondence  with  certain  "nobles  of  Judah"  who 
were  not  impressed  by  Nehemiah,  this  new  representative  of 
"the  uplift,"  this  upstart  who  interfered  with  all  their  -"'ested 
wrongs  and  their  social  and  marital  customs. 

Seventeenth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

The  victory  and  achievement  of  Nehemiah  meant  the  im- 
mediate comparative  safety  of  the  city  and  the  temple,  meant 
therefore  the  persistence  of  the  Jewish  faith;  it  also  meant 
the  enforcement  of  laws  which  Nehemiah  believed  of  im- 
perative significance  to  the  little  community. 

d.  Legalism  for  the  Sake  of  Life. 

Nehemiah  demanded  the  strictest  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath. Will  a  patriotic  layman  be  so  insistent  upon  a  matter 
of  ritual?  Yes:  nor  are  the  reasons  far  to  seek.  In  the 
land  of  Persia  he  and  all  his  Jewish  friends  had  found  that 
the  law  of  the  Sabbath  could  be  enforced  even  when  the 
temple  was  far  away.  Nehemiah  was  sure  that  the  ruin  of 
his  nation  had  been  due  to  disobedience  to  Jehovah's  ordi- 
nances, and  that  renewal  could  be  assured  only  to  the  obedient. 

365 


[XVII-7J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

But  the  practical  man  saw  as  well  that  the  Sabbath  could 
serve  the  ends  of  the  community  in  a  unique  fashion.  One 
day  set  free  from  toil  to  rest  and  worship — this  a  patriot  of 
any  age  may  do  well  to  guard. 

Xehemiah  further  insisted  that  the  Jews  should  not  inter- 
marry with  members  of  foreign  or  mongrel  peoples.  Malachi 
has  already  showed  us  that  in  Jerusalem  such  intermarriages, 
along  with  the  divorce  of  faithful  Jewish  wives,  were  com- 
mon. Even  in  the  restored  city  the  spiritual  leaders  had 
difficulty  in  keeping  the  people  true  to  Jehovah  worship.  In 
those  days  the  only  way  of  maintaining  the  Jewish  race  and 
the  Jewish  faith  was  by  preserving  the  purity  of  the  Jewish 
blood.  The  high  banks  which  confine  a  river  to  its  course 
save  the  river  from  death  in  the  sands.  The  narrowness  of 
Nehemiah's  policy  helped  to  keep  the  Jewish  faith  flowing 
deep  and  full  down  the  centuries  of  change. 

But  we  are  especially  grateful  to  Nehemiah  for  the  inspira- 
tion he  brings  to  us  through  his  own  personality.  A  very 
human  man,  vigorously  asserting  before  God  his  undoubted 
virtues,  yet  he  is  God's  man.  He  prays  to  the  God  of  heaven, 
and  sets  his  guards  at  the  gate.  He  is  one  of  God's  servants, 
faithful,  true,  and  bold. 

"Xehemiah,  why  didn't  you  stay  at  the  court  of  Persia? 
Don't  you  realize  that  many  a  man  would  cut  ofiF  his  right 
hand  to  get  a  position  like  yours  ?  You  have  exchanged  com- 
fort and  an  easy  job  for  misunderstanding,  insult,  terrible 
toil,  sacrifice."  The  question  and  the  questioner  shrivel  up 
in  the  presence  of  Nehemiah: 

"But  thou  would'st  not  alone 
Be  saved,  my  father!  alone 
Conquer  and  come  to  thy  goal, 
Leaving  the  rest  in  the  wild. 
We  were  weary,  and  we 
Fearful,  and  we  in  our  march 
Fain  to  drop  down  and  to  die. 
Still  thou  turnedst,  and  still 
Bcckonedst  the  trembler,  and  still 
Gavest  the  weary  thy  hand. 

366 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVIII-i] 

If,  in  the  paths  of  the  world, 
Stones  might  have  wounded  thy  feet. 
Toil  or  dejection  have  tried 
Thy  spirit,  of  that  we  saw 
Nothing— to  us  thou  wast  still 
Cheerful,  and  helpful,  and  firm! 
Therefore  to  thee  it  was  given 
Many  to  save  with  thyself : 
And,  at  the  end  of  the  day, 
O  faithful  shepherd!  to  come, 
Bringing  thy  sheep  in  thy  hand." 

—Matthew  Arnold,  "Rugby  Chapel." 

Eighteenth  Week,  First  Day. 

4.  Ezra,  and  the  Reign  of  "Law" 

The  narrative  of  Ezra  gives  us,  after  the  manner  of  the 
Chronicler,  some  conception  of  that  movement  of  thought 
which  finally  hardened  in  legalistic  Judaism  with  its  sovereign 
aim,  an  absolute  theocracy,  or  "rule  of  God."  The  record  has 
it  that  Ezra  read  the  law  to  the  people,  bound  them  to  the 
sternest  ritual  observances,  insisted  strenuously  upon  their 
putting  away  of  foreign  wives.  (One  wonders  whether 
Alalachi  would  have  condoned  the  cruelty  involved  in  a 
procedure  of  this  sort.)  Ezra  may  be  taken  as  the  type  of 
Jerusalem's  religious  leaders  in  the  latter  years  of  the  fifth 
century. 

To  these  years  is  usually  attributed  the  final  formulation 
of  the  so-called  Priestly  Code  (see  p.  8),  with  its  laws  new 
and  old,  with  its  apparent  departures  from  the  laws,  not  only 
of  Deuteronomy,  but  of  Ezekiel's  time,  with  its  minute  interest 
in  the  details  of  the  fasts  and  feasts,  the  ritual  of  the  sanc- 
tuary.* 

The  teachings  of  Jesus  and  of  all  history  have  rightly  made 
us  suspicious  of  legalism.  But  the  legalism  of  the  days  we 
are  studying  was  made  less  dangerous  because  of  its  relation 
to  the  laity  and  to  the  synagogue. 


■*  For  laws  included  in  the  Priestly  Code,  see  Driver,  "Literature  of  the  Old 
Testament,"  p.  150. 


[XVIIl-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

"The  most  characteristic  feature  of  post-exilic  Judaism  is 
the  rise  of  combinations  of  laymen  for  the  study  of  the  law. 
The  synagogue  appears  by  the  side  of  the  temple  and  becomes 
a  more  potent  force  than  the  official  sanctuary  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  religious  life  of  the  people.  Worship  in  the 
synagogues  makes  its  start  as  an  appendix  to  the  study  of 
the  law  and  as  a  further  means  of  spreading  religious  teach- 
ings.'" 

It  is  then  a  notable  and  encouraging  fact  that  the  enormous 
emphasis  on  legalism  was  the  work  not  of  priests  but  of  lay- 
men. The  pious  devotion  of  laymen  to  observances  empha- 
sized by  laymen  is  not  nearly  so  perilous  as  such  devotion 
enforced  by  priestcraft.  The  synagogue  whose  study  of 
ceremonial  law  was  to  breed  Pharisaism  was  also  to  keep 
alive  in  the  hearts  of  the  common  people  the  loves  and  pur- 
poses and  hopes  born  of  confidence  in  God. 

The  story  has  it  that  one  summer  the  Italian  reserves  were 
entering  upon  their  annual  maneuvers,  but  in  their  civilian 
garb.  The  order  to  advance  was  given.  One  soldier  moved 
forward,  another  backward,  another  wheeled  to  the  right. 
Confusion  and  futility  prevailed.  The  commander  telegraphed 
for  uniforms.  The  men  donned  the  familiar  costumes  of  the 
old  days  of  military  training.  Again  the  order  was  given; 
and  as  one  man  the  soldiers  advanced  across  the  field. 

Law,  ceremony,  ritual  are  the  uniform  of  the  soldier  of 
God.  But  the  peril  in  Jerusalem  (as  in  New  York)  was  this: 
that  the  soldier  might  devote  his  thought  to  polishing  buttons 
and  pressing  trousers,  when  the  bugle  was  sounding  the  ad- 
vance. 

The  reader  of  Morley's  "Recollections"  or  of  his  "Life  of 
Gladstone"  is  continually  impressed  by  the  various  currents 
of  thought  that  flowed  through  the  life  of  England  in  the 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century.  For  example,  in  the  same 
half  century  Newman  could  pass  from  Anglicanism  to  Ro- 
manism, while  John  Stuart  Mill  could  pursue  the  problem 
whether  there  might  be  a  good  and  weak  God  or  a  strong  and 

*  Jastrow,  "Hcbcew  and  Babylonian  Traditions."  p.  300. 
368 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVIII-2] 

bad  God.  Darwin  could  write  upon  "The  Origin  of  Species," 
only  to  bring  down  upon  his  head  an  avalanche  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal criticism.  Spurgeon  could  preach  with  amazing  eloquence 
and  conviction,  while  Matthew  Arnold  could  write:  "There 
is  not  a  creed  which  is  not  shaken,  not  an  accredited  dogma 
which  is  not  shown  to  be  questionable,  not  a  received  tradition 
which  does  not  threaten  to  dissolve.  Our  religion  has  realized 
itself  in  the  supposed  fact,  and  now  the  fact  is  failing  it." 

As  one  reads  of  "the  night  of  legalism"  in  Judah,  one  is 
tempted  to  imagine  that  bigotry  held  absolute  and  unchal- 
lenged sway — that  the  night  knew  no  stars,  no  flashes  of 
heavenly  light.  This  is  far  from  true.  Of  course  the  life 
of  Jerusalem  in  the  Persian  period  was  not  that  of  England 
in  the  nineteenth  century.  But  Zion  has  always  been  a  city 
of  quarrels  rather  than  of  peace.  Not  to  mention  the  demo- 
cratic influence  of  the  synagogue,  there  were,  shortly  after 
Nehemiah's  day,  attacks  upon  the  dominant  practice  and  the 
dominant  theology. 

Eighteenth  Week,  Second  Day. 

5.  Ruth,  and  the  Revolt  against  the  Tyranny  of 
THE  Law 

Read  Ruth  i,  for  the  pure  loveliness  of  the  story. 

The  book  of  Ruth  is  thought  to  date  from  the  close  of  the 
fifth  century,  when  the  law  against  marriage  with  foreigners 
or  any  of  mixed  blood  was  in  full  swing.  Without  any 
apparent  effort  to  teach  a  lesson  or  point  a  moral,  it  does 
both.  As  a  story,  the  book  is  of  singular  beauty.  One  passes 
from  the  Priestly  Code  into  this  book  and  seems  to  leave  a 
stuffy  schoolroom,  to  catch  the  bracing  air  of  the  mountains, 
to  win  the  freedom  of  the  open  fields. 

A  famine  in  Judah  had  impelled  Elimelech  and  his  family 
to  settle  in  the  neighboring  "heathen"  land  of  Moab  across 
Jordan.  The  seeming  necessity  was  a  seeming  mistake.  In 
Moab  Elimelech  died;  then  his  two  sons  died.  Naomi  the 
wife  WLS  left  widowed,  childless. 

369 


[XVIII-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Plenty  reigned  again  in  Judah,  It  was  natural  for  Naomi 
to  wish  to  return  to  her  old  homestead.  She  bade  her  daugh- 
ters-in-law go  back  to  their  own  people.  Orpah  at  last  kissed 
the  woman  who  had  been  a  mother  to  her,  kissed  her  and 
left  her,  to  join  herself  as  best  she  might  to  her  people  and 
their  gods.  Ruth  stood  by  the  Jordan.  Behind  her  were  the 
mountains  of  her  homeland,  bidding  her  to  stay  and  not  to 
go.  Behind  her  lay  the  grave  of  her  husband,  pleading  with 
her  to  stay.  Behind  her  were  the  friends  of  her  childhood : 
"Surely  you  will  not  leave  us."  Behind  her  were  the  temples 
of  Chemosh,  the  god  of  Moab ;  and  the  religion  of  her  country 
may  well  have  woven  itself  into  every  habit,  custom,  and  fiber 
of  her  life.  Before  her  flowed  the  Jordan,  and  beyond  the 
Jordan  was  exile — and  the  Jews  who  listened  to  the  story 
knew  what  exile  meant.  Beyond  the  Jordan  were  certain 
poverty  and  sadness.  Gleaning  is  not  easy  work.  It  is  a 
heavy  task  to  bring  back  the  rewards  of  a  long  day's  toil  to 
an  aged  woman  who  waits  in  loneliness,  a  woman  whose 
name,  Naomi,  Pleasant,  she  wishes  to  change  to  Mara,  Bitter. 
Beyond  the  Jordan  was  certain  ostracism.  The  women  at 
the  village  well  would  all  agree  that  she,  the  Moahitess,  was 
responsible  for  the  death  of  her  husband.  But  Ruth  chose, 
not  the  world  of  Moab,  but  the  world  of  Judah.  Why? 
"Well,  she  had  taken  shelter  under  the  shadow  of  Jehovah's 
wings."  But  she  could  have  worshiped  Jehovah  in  Moab. 
Thousands  of  devout  Jews  were  in  exile.  '"Ah,  but  she  loved 
Naomi."  Orpah  presumably  loved  Naomi,  and  left  her.  Ruth 
dared  to  choose  her  world  because  she  heard  the  silent  appeal 
of  a  friend's  great  need.  She  dared  to  choose  the  world  in 
which  the  best  in  her  was  needed  most.  The  best  in  her  was 
her  love,  and  she  chose  to  lavish  that  love  upon  the  life  of 
her  who  needed  most  that  precious  gift. 

Eighteenth  Week,  Third  Day, 

The  story  reveals  an  antiquarian  interest  in  the  old-time 
legal  negotiations,  by  which  the  nearest  kinsman  of  a  deceased 

370 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVIir-3] 

man  could  transfer  to  another  relative  his  own  obligation  to 
"raise  up  children"  to  his  kinsman. 

But  of  far  more  consequence  is  the  fact  that  the  story 
quietly  calls  the  attention  of  every  listener  to  the  record  that 
David,  the  king  of  the  Golden  Age,  v^^as  himself  descended 
from  a  Moabitess,  a  woman  of  a  "heathen"  country.  "You 
who  forever  insist  upon  purity  of  blood,  you  who  would 
tell  us  even  to  divorce  the  foreign  wives  we  may  have  taken, 
you  who  will  not  welcome  to  your  sanctuary  any  foreigner, 
and  drive  the  devout  Samaritan  to  another  shrine  on  Gerizim, 
you  who  are  always  mulling  over  genealogical  tables,  have 
you  ever  looked  up  the  genealogy  of  your  own  great  king? 
Are  you  not  hoping  for  the  coming  of  David's  greater  son? 
Why  hope  for  him?  You  would  not  give  him  right  hearty 
welcome  to  your  sanctuary,  for  must  he  not  be  the  descendant 
of  a  foreigner?" 

The  attack  upon  the  prevalent  attitude  toward  aliens  must 
have  been  more  effective,  because  it  was  not  a  frontal,  but  a 
flank  attack.  Ruth  is  pictured  as  rich  in  all  the  charms  and 
graces  of  Oriental  womanhood.  She  is  gentle,  submissive, 
sacrificial,  with  a  love  as  true  as  steel : 

And  Ruth  said,  Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  and  to 
return  from  following  after  thee;  for  whither  thou 
goest,  I  will  go  ;  and  where  thou  lodgest,  I  will  lodge ; 
thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God ; 
where  thou  diest,  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried : 
Jehovah  do  so  to  me,  and  more  also,  if  aught  but  death 
part  thee  and  me.  And  when  she  saw  that  she  was 
stedfastly  minded  to  go  with  her,  she  left  off  speaking 
unto  her. 

So  they  two  went  until  they  came  to  Beth-lehem. — 
Ruth  1 :  16- 1 9a. 

It  was  perfectly  futile  to  protest  against  Ruth.  Learned 
scribes  might  discuss  at  length  the  baneful  influence  of  foreign 
marriages ;  but  the  glorious  humanity  of  the  avowal  of  devo- 
tion, the  matchless  beauty  of  the  words  and  the  deed,  swept 
all  hateful  legalities  far  out  into  the  sea  of  forgotten  things. 

371 


[XVIII-4J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

The  lawyers  would  go  fishing  for  them  some  day,  but  only 
when  they  had  forgotten  for  a  time  the  woman  and  her  story. 

And  probably  they  never  did  quite  forget.  It  has  been 
suggestively  remarked  that  the  Jewish  Targum  itself  "ex- 
presses from  time  to  time  a  certain  freedom  in  tracing  gene- 
alogies back  to  extra-Israelitish  sources."  Ruth  is  a  book  of 
protest,  not  so  much  against  a  law,  as  against  the  spirit  of  the 
law's  enforcement.  The  law  against  foreign  marriages  was 
helpful;  the  spirit  of  its  enforcement,  that  of  pride  and 
cruelty,  was  that  which  in  the  later  days  John  the  Baptist 
attacked,  when  he  cried :  "And  think  not  to  say  within  your- 
selves, We  have  Abraham  to  our  father :  for  I  say  unto  you, 
that  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up  children  unto 
Abraham"   (Matt.  3:9). 

Eighteenth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

6.  Job,  the  Revolt  against  the  Old  Theology,  and 
THE  Challenge  to  Disinterested  Loyalty 

Read  Job  i  and  2,  the  masterly  prologue  of  the  poem. 

"The  law  shall  not  perish  from  the  priest,  nor  counsel  from 
the  wise,  nor  the  word  from  the  prophet"  (Jer.  18:18). 
With  brazen  assurance,  the  enemies  of  Jeremiah  had  cheered 
themselves  with  these  words,  as  they  concocted  evil  devices 
against  the  prophet. 

Our  studies  thus  far  have  led  us  to  walk  most  of  the  time 
in  the  paths  of  priests  and  prophets.  Not  so  easily  classified, 
yet  still  constituting  a  fairly  definite  group,  were  "the  Wise." 
These  men  sought  to  gather  up  the  sacred  truths  of  antiquity, 
the  quintessence  of  the  wisdom  of  the  race.  Disciples  gath- 
ered about  them  and  wrote  down  from  time  to  time  the  words 
in  which  they  crystallized  their  experience,  observation,  con- 
viction. The  Wise  spoke  not  to  the  nation,  but  to  the  indi- 
vidual. They  were  always  asking,  "What  is  the  way  of  wis- 
dom for  the  man?"  By  the  time  of  Jesus,  these  wise  men 
had  "degenerated  into  the  scribes  of  Judaism." 

Z72- 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVIII-4] 

Professor  Royce  makes  this  fine  distinction : 

"Many  persons  I  know  and  honor  too,  men  of  cheerful 
souls  and  well-knit  purposes,  high-minded  men  and  strenuous, 
to  whom  every  ultimate,  above  all  every  philosophical,  inquiry 
as  to  this  matter  of  the  meaning  and  final  justification  of 
life  seems  essentially  vain  and  dangerous.  Why  we  live,  they 
say,  and  what  our  duty  is,  and  why  it  is  a  worthy  thing  to 
do  our  duty,  and  how  evil  is  to  be  explained,  to  ask  this  'Why* 
is  to  hesitate,  to  dream,  to  speculate,  to  poison  life.  The  best 
thing  is  to  work  and  not  inquire.  Yet  there  is  another  way 
of  viewing  life.  ...  It  is  the  way  of  men  who  demand  ulti- 
mate answers,  and  who,  if  they  cannot  get  them,  prefer  doubt, 
even  if  doubt  means  despair." 

When  we  study  the  Proverbs  (p.  432ff.),  we  shall  examine 
the  work  of  men  who  seldom  ask  ultimate  questions,  who  ask 
simply  the  question,  "How?"  "How  shall  a  man  of  wisdom 
walk  in  this  world  of  ours?"  But  among  "the  Wise"  were 
men  who  asked  not  alone  the  question,  "How?"  but  that  other 
terrible,  ultimate  question,  "Why?" 

We  have  seen  that  to  all  Israelites  before  the  Exile,  disaster, 
whether  in  the  realm  of  nature  or  of  politics,  was  briefly 
explained  as  punishment  for  sin.  Does  the  palmer-worm 
infest  a  man's  garden?  The  man  has  sinned  against  Jehovah. 
Does  Assyria  sweep  down  upon  Jehovah's  country?  Assyria 
is  the  club,  the  rod,  of  Jehovah's  anger.  The  death  of  Josiah 
(p.  276)  was  a  crushing  blow  to  the  God-fearing  Hebrew. 
Habakkuk  and  Jeremiah  both  asked  that  insistent  question, 
"Why?"  but  they  got  no  complete  answer.  The  Exile,  with 
its  bitter  pain  to  women  and  little  children,  accentuated  the 
difficulty  of  reconciling  the  suffering  of  the  innocent  with  the 
righteousness  of  Jehovah ;  nor  did  Ezekiel  satisfy  the  inquir- 
ing heart.  We  have  seen  how  the  problem  of  pain  affected 
the  people  of  Malachi's  day.  "Where  is  the  God  of  justice?" 
"Everyone  that  doeth  evil  is  righteous  in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah." 

The  messages  of  the  Servant  of  Jehovah,  suffering  and 
saving,  were  the  noblest  and  most  satisfying  of  all  the  answers 
to  that  question,  "Why?"  (p.  338ff.).  We  cannot  be  sure  of 
the  date  of  these  prophecies.     We  know  that  they  did  not 

373 


[XVIII-5J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

win  universal  acceptance  or  appreciation.  Usually  both  priest 
and  prophet  could  only  point  to  some  past  sin  in  explanation 
of  pain,  and  to  some  future  release  in  mitigation  of  pain; 
neither  offered  any  solution  that  was  adequate  of  the  agoniz- 
ing problem. 

The  date  of  the  book  of  Job  is  uncertain.  Some  scholars 
place  it  before  the  Exile.  Others  hold,  with  good  reason, 
that  it  may  be  dated  c.  331  B.  C.  Others,  with  whom  we  may 
tentatively  agree,  hold  that  it  comes  from  the  last  years  of 
the  fifth  century.  The  book  of  Ruth  attacked  in  a  quiet, 
kindly,  but  decisive  way  the  narrowness  of  those  who  made 
l)ractical  application  of  the  Law ;  the  book  of  Job  fiercely 
attacked  the  old  theology,  which  still  persisted  and  ruled  in 
Jerusalem's  seats  of  the  mighty. 

For  our  study,  the  question  of  dates  is  of  little  consequence. 
The  book  is  one  of  the  timeless  books  of  the  world.  The 
author  has  been  calle.d  "The  Great  Unknown,"  but  almost 
as  well  as  if  we  knew  his  name  we  know  this  man  with  his 
throbbing  heart,  his  eager  questionings,  his  triumphant  asser- 
tions, his  utter  despairs,  his  struggles  to  find  foothold  on  the 
path  to  peace.  He  is  our  kinsman,  our  brother.  It  has  been 
said  of  him,  "He  has  written  his  poem  with  his  heart's  blood." 

Eighteenth  Week,  Filth  Day. 

Job,  the  hero  of  the  poem,  may  have  been  an  actual  person 
known  to  hoary  tradition  as  one  who,  though  a  man  of  per- 
fect integrity,  had  fallen  from  great  prosperity  to  great 
adversity;  or  he  may  have  been  simply  a  character  of  the 
common  folklore.  Ezekiel  speaks  of  him  as  a  typical  right- 
eous man,  to  be  classed  with  Noah  and  with  Daniel  (Ezek. 
14:  14).  Moulton  describes  the  book  as  "a  didactic  poem,  in 
dialogue  form,  with  dramatic  development." 

The  purpose  of  the  book  is  not  so  much  to  explain  suffer- 
ing: it  is  rather  to  reveal  the  true  attitude  of  the  righteous 
Ml  the  experience  of  suffering.  "In  accomplishing  this  pur- 
pose, the  writer  proposes  to  undermine  the  orthodox  position 

374 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVIII-5] 

that  suffering  is  always  the  result  of  sin,  and  also  to  demon- 
strate the  possibility  of  disinterested  loyalty  to  God,  par- 
ticularly on  the  part  of  his  hard-pressed  fellow-countrymen." 

The  scene  of  the  poem  is  laid  in  a  land  remote  from  the 
Holy  Land,  far  away,  therefore,  from  the  sound  of  temple 
trumpets  and  the  odor  of  temple  incense. 

a.   The  Prologue   (Chapters  1  and  2). 

The  Prologue  carries  us  swiftly  from  scene  to  scene.  First 
we  have  a  picture  of  perfect  "piety  and  prosperity."  The  out- 
ward life  of  Job  admirably  harmonizes  with  his  inner  in- 
tegrity. Then  we  witness  the  first  heavenly  council,  in  which 
Satan,  or  the  adversary,  appears  not  strictly  as  a  bad  angel, 
but  as  one  determined  that  no  one  shall  be  accounted  right- 
eous until  he  has  proved  that  he  deserves  his  halo. 

From  heaven  to  earth  we  pass,  to  see  one  blow  of  out- 
rageous fortune  after  another  fall  upon  the  head  of  Job,  to 
leave  unscathed  his  integrity.  Then  comes  the  second  heavenly 
council.  Of  the  transactions  going  on  in  heaven.  Job  is  him- 
self entirely  ignorant.  If  only  he  could  have  known  that  his 
pain  had  some  "cosmic  significance,"  how  bravely  he  would 
have  borne  it !  How  proud  he  would  have  been  to  be  counted 
Jehovah's  champion  against  the  adversary !  Phillips  Brooks 
remarks,  "The  only  consolation  a  brave  man  needs  is  expla- 
nation." 

"The  soul  can  split  the  sky  in  two 
And  let  the  face  of  God  shine  through." 

For  Job  there  are  no  opening  skies,  no  angel  visitants.  But 
the  Prologue  introduces  us  to  certain  earthly  visitors,  three 
old  friends  of  Job,  who  when  they  see  him  in  his  misery 
sit  down  with  him  for  seven  days  and  seven  nights,  and  never 
speak  a  word — the  wisest  thing  these  wise  men  ever  did. 

In  passing  from  the  Prologue  we  note  that  it  may  suggest 
one  explanation  of  the  sorrow  of  the  righteous.  Such  sorrow 
has    "cosmic    significance."      Through    such    sorrow    God    is 

375 


[XVIIl-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

achieving  high  ends,  shaming  adversaries,  vindicating  charac- 
ter, in  a  fashion  not  known  to  the  sufferer  himself. 

b.  Job's  Lament  (Chapter  3). 

Why  died  I  not  from  the  w^omb? 

Why  did  I  not  give  up  the  ghost  when  my  mother  bare 

me? 
Why  did  the  knees  receive  me? 
Or  why  the  breasts,  that  I  should  suck? 
For  now  should  I  have  lain  down  and  been  quiet; 
I  should  have  slept ;  then  had  I  been  at  rest. 
With  kings  and  counsellors  of  the  earth. 
Who  built  up  waste  places  for  themselves ; 
Or  with  princes  that  had  gold. 
Who  filled  their  houses  with  silver : 
Or  as  a  hidden  untimely  birth  I  had  not  been, 
As  infants  that  never  saw  light. 
There  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling; 
And  there  the  weary  are  at  rest, 
There  the  prisoners  are  at  ease  together ; 
They  hear  not  the  voice  of  the  taskmaster. 
The  small  and  the  great  are  there: 
And  the  servant  is  free  from  his  master. 
Wherefore  is  light  given  to  him  that  is  in  misery, 
And  life  unto  the  bitter  in  soul; 
Who  long  for  death,  but  it  cometh  not. 
And  dig  for  it  more  than  for  hid  treasures; 
Who  rejoice  exceedingly, 
And  are  glad,  when  they  can  find  the  grave? 

— Job  3:  11-22. 

The  Lament  is  the  cry  of  a  bewildered  man.  Up  to  this 
time  he  has  accepted  the  theology  of  his  three  friends,  the 
theology  of  all  his  world.  His  suffering  proclaims  him  a 
sinner.  He  does  not  deny  that  he  has  sinned,  but  he  does 
insist  that  his  suffering  is  entirely  out  of  proportion  to  his 
sin.  In  anguish,  he  cries,  "Why  was  I  ever  born?  Why 
can't  I  die?"  The  man  is  in  danger  of  forsaking  the  fear  of 
the  Almighty. 

c.  The  "Rounds  of  Speeches"  (Chapters  4  to  31). 

There  are  three  rounds  of  speeches.     In  each  of  the  three 
Z7^   ' 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVIII-6] 

rounds,  each  of  Job's  friends  has  his  chance  to  reason  with 
him.®  In  each  round,  Job  in  his  turn  replies  to  his  friends, 
or  rather  responds  to  the  situation. 

Eighteenth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

For  the  three  friends  Job's  problem  does  not  exist.  There 
is  no  such  thing  as  the  suffering  of  the  righteous.  Does  Job 
suffer?    He  is  a  sinner.    The  case  is  closed. 

In  the  first  round  of  speeches  (4  to  14)  each  friend  in 
his  own  way  dwells  upon  the  fact  that  sin  means  suffering, 
but  each  pleads  with  Job  to  repent  of  his  sin,  that  again  he 
may  walk  in  the  light  of  Jehovah. 

Eliphaz  is  the  oldest  and  most  dignified  of  the  friends. 
Some  of  his  words  are  of  great  charm  and  of  absolute  truth, 
but  quite  beside  the  mark. 

Behold,  happy  is  the  man  whom  God  correcteth : 
Therefore    despise    not    thou    the    chastening    of    the 

Almighty. 
For  he  maketh  sore,  and  bindeth  up  ; 
He  woundeth,  and  his  hands  make  whole. 
He  will  deliver  thee  in  six  troubles ; 
Yea,  in  seven  there  shall  no  evil  touch  thee. 
In  famine  he  will  redeem  thee  from  death; 
And  in  war  from  the  power  of  the  sword. 
Thou  shalt  be  hid  from  the  scourge  of  the  tongue; 
Neither    shalt   thou    be   afraid   of    destruction   when    it 

cometh. 
At  destruction  and  dearth  thou  shalt  laugh; 
Neither  shalt  thou  be  afraid  of  the  beasts  of  the  earth. 
For  thou  shalt  be  in  league  with  the  stones  of  the  field; 
And  the  beasts  of  the  field  shall  be  at  peace  with  thee. 
And  thou  shalt  know  that  thy  tent  is  in  peace ; 
And  thou  shalt  visit  thy  fold,  and  shalt  miss  nothing. 
Thou  shalt  know  also  that  thy  seed  shall  be  great, 
And  thine  offspring  as  the  grass  of  the  earth. 
Thou  shalt  come  to  thy  grave  in  a  full  age. 
Like  as  a  shock  of  grain  cometh  in  in  its  season. 

—Job  5 :  17-26. 


"Job  26:  sff.,  27:7s.,  and  possibly  28,  should  be    assigned  to  Bildad  and 
Zophar. 

377 


[X\-111-0J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

A  man  has  the  cholera  and  the  physician  gives  him  a  remedy 
for  smallpox.  Hear  him:  "According  as  I  have  seen,  they 
that  plow  iniquity,  and  sow  trouble,  reap  the  same.  But  sin 
is  common  to  the  race.  Mortal  man  has  little  chance  to  be 
just  before  his  Maker.  But  as  for  me,  I  would  seek  unto 
God,  and  unto  God  would  I  commit  my  cause."  "There 
is  something  pathetic,"  says  a  writer,  "in  the  picture  of  a 
good  man  like  Eliphaz,  so  earnest  in  his  endeavor  to  help  Job, 
so  sure  of  his  own  position,  and  capable  of  putting  such  real 
truth  into  language  of  great  beauty,  and  yet  utterly  unable 
to  conceive  of  any  truths  beyond  those  which  were  con- 
tained in  his  own  creed,  and  the  formulae  in  the  use  of  which 
he  had  grown  up." 

Bildad  has  been  called  "the  representative  of  Israel's  wise 
men."  The  keynote  of  his  speeches  is  this:  "Inquire  of  the 
former  age." 

Doth  God  pervert  justice? 

Or  doth  the  Almighty  pervert  righteousness? 

If  thy  children  have  sinned  against  him, 

And    he   hath    delivered    them    into    the   hand    of   their 
transgression  ; 

If  thou  wouldest  seek  diligently  unto  God, 

And  make  thy  supplication  to  the  Almighty; 

If  thou  wert  pure  and  upright: 

Surely  now  he  would  awake  for  thee, 

And  make  the  habitation  of  thy  righteousness  prosper- 
ous. 

And  though  thy  beginning  was  small. 

Yet  thy  latter  end  would  greatly  increase. 

For  inquire,  I  pray  thee,  of  the  former  age. 

And    apply    thyself    to   that   which    their    fathers    have 
searched  out 

(For  we  are  but  of  yesterday,  and  know  nothing, 

Because  our  days  upon  earth  are  a  shadow)  ; 

Shall  not  they  teach  thee,  and  tell  thee. 

And  utter  words  out  of  their  heart? 

—Job  8 :  3-10. 

"Job,"  he  would  say,  "all  history   shows  you   that  you  can't 
fool  God." 

378 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVIII-6] 

The  hope  of  the  godless  man  shall  perish : 

Whose  confidence  shall  break  in  sunder, 

And  whose  trust  is  a  spider's  web. — Job  8:  13,  14. 

Job  might  just  as  well  stop  sinning  forthwith.  If  he  will,  God 
will  restore  him. 

He  will  yet  fill  thy  mouth  with  laughter, 
And  thy  lips  with  shouting. — Job  8:21. 

Zophar  is  the  man  of  "common  sense,"  the  man  of  popular 
wisdom,  a  narrow  bigot,  a  superb  phrase-maker,  utterly  un- 
moved by  Job's  anguish,  immensely  exasperated  by  his 
heresies. 

Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God? 
Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection? 
It  is  high  as  heaven;  what  canst  thou  do? 
Deeper  than  Sheol ;  what  canst  thou  know?  .  .  . 
If  iniquity  be  in  thy  hand,  put  it  far  away, 
And  let  not  unrighteousness  dwell  in  thy  tents. 
Surely  then  shalt  thou  lift  up  thy  face  without  spot; 
Yea,  thou  shalt  be  stedfast,  and  shalt  not  fear: 
For  thou  shalt  forget  thy  misery ; 

Thou  shalt  remember  it  as  waters  that  are  passed  away. 

— Job  11:7,  8,  14-16. 

Job  is  not  impressed  by  the  words  of  his  self-constituted 
comforters  and  judges. 

No  doubt  but  ye  are  the  people, 

And  wisdom  shall  die  with  you. — Job   12 : 2. 

"Doubtless,"  perhaps  he  says,  "the  axis  of  the  earth  passes 
through  your  bodies."  "In  the  thought  of  him  that  is  at 
ease,  there  is  contempt  for  misfortune"  (12:5).  Job  could 
talk  as  well  as  his  friends,  knew  all  that  they  said,  indeed 
had  probably  in  times  past  used  their  arguments.  But  now 
he  is  broken — not  because  he  suffers,  but  because  he  cannot 
suft'er  and  at  the  same  time  hold  his  faith  in  God.  Evil  to 
sinners — that  is  just — but  why  this  heartache,  this  agony  to 
me? 

379 


[XVIII-6J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

d.  Job's  Peaks  of  Thought. 

Out  of  the  depths  of  his  misery  and  despair,  Job  rises  from 
time  to  time  to  certain  heights  of  thought  and  vision — heights 
which,  alas,  he  does  not  hold,  from  which  he  sinks  back  into 
the  old  misery  and  despair. 

( 1 )  He  climbs  his  first  height,  when  in  6 :  28  he  says : 
"Surely  I  shall  not  lie  to  your  face."  "If  you  will  point  out 
my  sins,  I  shall  not  try  to  evade  the  truth,  but  I  will  not  say 
I  have  sinned  when  I  have  not."  The  man  whose  own 
theology  has  proclaimed  him  a  sinner  determines  to  be  honest 
with  men,  whether  God  damns  him  or  no. 

(2)  He  climbs  a  further  height  as  he  rises  to  the  conviction 
that  God  ought  to  forgive. 

If  I  have  sinned,  what  do  I  unto  thee,  O  thou  watcher  of 

men?  .  .  . 
And  why  dost  thou  not  pardon  my  transgression,  and  take 

away  mine  iniquity? — Job  7:20,  21. 

God  will  search  for  him  some  day  to  grant  him  forgiveness, 
but  then  it  will  be  too  late.  The  man  is  feeling  for  the  God 
who  ought  to  be,  dares  to  believe  that  after  his  death  God 
will  seek  him  to  give  him  delayed  mercy,  yes,  justice. 

(3)  In  Chapter  9,  we  find  Job  at  the  lowest  depth.  His 
God  now  is  simply  wisdom  and  power,  inaccessible  and  un- 
ethical. 

Behold,  he  seizeth  the  prey,  who  can  hinder  him? 
Who  will  say  unto  him,  What  doest  thou?  .  .  . 
I  am  perfect;  I  regard  not  myself; 
I  despise  my  life. 
It  js  all  one;  therefore  I  say. 

He  destroyeth  the  perfect  and  the  wicked. — Job  9:  12, 
21,  22. 

Yet  here  again  he  rises  victorious  against  God  and  man,  and 
determines  to  be  honest,  not  alone  with  man,  but  with  God 
himself. 

(4)  In  this  same  chapter,  too  (9:33),  he  makes  another 
ascent,  as  he  insists  that  there  ought  to  be  an  umpire,  a  days- 

380 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XVIII-7] 

man,  between  him  and  God :  "There  is  no  umpire  betwixt  us, 
that  might  lay  his  hand  upon  us  both.  Somewhere  in  the 
universe  there  is  satisfaction  for  every  need  of  man.  On 
God's  side  are  power  and  terror,  on  my  side  helpless  fear. 
Is  there  no  umpire?"-  So  the  man  climbs  again  from  the  God 
who  appears  in  providence  to  the  God  who  ought  to  be,  the 
God  who  alone  can  save  His  world  from  unreason. 

Eighteenth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

(5)  In  Chapter  10  Job  faces,  with  morbid  honesty,  the 
seeming  reasons  for  God's  treatment  of  him.  He  canvasses 
all  the  possibilities,  and  concludes  that  God  must  have 
fashioned  him  as  a  precious  vessel  with  infinite  care,  yet 
with  the  deliberate  purpose  to  dash  him  to  pieces  at  the  end : 

Thy  hands  have  framed  me  and  fashioned  me 
Together  round  about;  yet  thou  dost  destroy  me. — Job 
10:8. 

But  the  very  consideration  of  such  hideous  explanations  is 
itself  a  new  ascent  of  thought  and  vision,  for  a  man  as  wise 
as  Job  cannot  remain  in  this  conclusion. 

(6)  In  Chapter  13  Job  has  done  with  his  friends. 

Surely  I  would  speak  to  the  Almighty, 
And  I  desire  to  reason  with  God. 
But  ye  are  forgers  of  lies ; 
Ye  are  all  physicians  of  no  value. 
Oh  that  ye  would  altogether  hold  your  peace  1 
And  it  would  be  your  wisdom. 
Hear  now  my  reasoning. 
And  hearken  to  the  pleadings  of  my  lips. 
—Job   13:3-6. 

Will  ye  speak  unrighteously  for  God, 
And  talk  deceitfully  for  him?  .  .  . 
Is  it  good  that  he  should  search  you  out? 
Or  as  one  deceiveth  a  man,  will  ye  deceive  him? — Job 
13  '7,  9- 

Job  is  now  brought  to  this  extraordinary  position :  Hitherto 
he  has  been  complaining  of  God  and  of  God's  injustice,  while 

381 


[XVIII-7J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

his  friends  have  been  charging  him  with  trying  to  fool  God. 
Now  he  proceeds  to  defend  God  against  the  defenders  of 
God.  Their  memorable  sayings  are  proverbs  of  ashes,  their 
defenses  are  defenses  of  clay.  He  becomes,  as  one  finely 
puts  it.  Jehovah's  champion.  Thus  he  climbs  a  lofty  peak  of 
thought,  reaches  the  point  where  he  is  sure  that  character  has 
value  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  that  the  man  who  lies  for 
God  has  no  standing  with  him — the  man  who  would  "white- 
wash the  moral  order  of  the  universe." 

But  shall  the  righteous  man  have  a  chance  to  stand  before 
God?    If  so,  when? 

Read  Job  14,  with  its  infinite  tragedy,  and  its  transient  dream 
of  hope. 

(7)  In  Chapter  14,  we  have  one  of  the  saddest  dirges  ever 
penned  by  the  hand  of  man. 

There  is  hope  of  a  tree. 

If  it  be  cut  down,  that  it  will  sprout  again,  .  .  . 
But  man  dieth,  and  is  laid  low  : 

Yea,  man  giveth  up  the  ghost,  and  where  is  he? — Job 
14:7,  10. 

But  the  thought  of  the  revived  stump  of  a  tree  brings  to  him 
a  fascinating  idea,  too  beautiful  to  be  real.  He  plays  with 
it  as  a  child  with  a  soap-bubble,  as  a  man  with  a  dream  of 
])aradise.  Though  God  he  is  sure  is  going  to  pursue  him 
relentlessly  to  the  grave,  yet  He  might.  He  might  perhaps, 
lift  him  from  the  grave  and  tell  him  the  meaning  of  his  tears. 
That  would  certainly  be  great!  He  rises  thus  to  a  new  peak 
of  thought,  if  not  of  faith,  and  achieves  the  idea  of  vindica- 
tion after  death.     If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again? 

O  that  thou  wouldest  hide  me  in   Sheol, 

That  thou  wouldest  keep  me  secret,  until  thy  wrath  be 
past, 

That  thou  wouldest  appoint  me  a  set  time,  and  remem- 
ber me! 

If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again? 

All  the  days  of  my  warfare  would  I  wait, 

Till  my  release  should  come. 

382 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XIX-i] 

Thou  wouldest  call,  and  I  would  answer  thee : 
Thou  wouldest  have  a  desire  to  the  work  of  thy  hands. 

—Job  14:  13-15- 
But  he  sinks  back  into  the  old  despair. 

(8)  In  Chapter  16  Job  believes  that  he  will  die,  unjustly,  a 
martyr  whose  blood,  like  Abel's,  shall  cry  unto  heaven,  where 
his  witness  is.  Here  then  he  makes  a  new  ascent.  Already 
he  has  considered  the  thought  of  an  umpire,  an  advocate  in 
heaven.     Now  he  knows  he  has  one  there. 

Even  now,  behold,  my  witness  is  in  heaven, 

And  he  that  voucheth  for  me  is  on  high. — Job  16 :  19. 

A  writer  quotes  Tennyson's  poem,  "Despair,"  which  gives 
the  thoughts  of  a  would-be  suicide  who,  rescued  from  his 
death  purpose,  thinks  on  the  mystery  of  the  world : 

"Ah  yet — I  have  had  some  glimmer,  at  times,  in  my 
gloomiest  woe, 

Of  a  God  behind  all — after  all — the  great  God  for 
aught  that  I  know  ; 

But  the  God  of  Love  and  of  Hell  together — they  can- 
not be  thought, 

n  there  be  such  a  God,  may  the  Great  God  curse  him 
and  bring  him  to  nought!" 

It  would  seem  that  for  a  time  Job  has  been  half  uncon- 
sciously separating  the  God  of  providence,  hard  and  cruel, 
from  God  as  He  is  in  his  heart.  But  "who  is  this  witness  in 
heaven?  Who  but  God  himself,  the  God  behind  the  thick 
veil  (16:20,  21)?  There  is  no  escape  from  God  but  unto 
God.  A  man  must  think  his  God  together,  unify  his  God,  or 
give  him  up.     But  Job  falls  back  again  into  the  night. 

Nineteenth  Week,  First  Day 

Read  Job  19,  with  its  light  shining  out  of  the  bosom  of  dark- 
ness. 

(9)  In  Chapter  19  Job  is  friendless,  forsaken,  persecuted 
by  man  and  God.  His  utter  aloneness  wrings  from  him  a  cry, 
perhaps  the  most  heart-breaking  to  be  found  in  literature: 

3^3 


[XIX-iJ  RLUGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Have   pity   upon   me,    have   pity    upon   me,    O   ye   my 

friends  ; 
For  the  hand  of  God  hath  touched  me. — Job  19:21. 

But  the  theology  of  these  friends  has  curdled  the  milk  of 
human  kindness.  The  horrible  feature  of  their  system  was 
this,  that  when  deity  turned  against  a  man  they  believed  that 
all  good  men  should  join  with  deity  in  driving  that  man  from 
the  earth.  The  leper  is  the  victim  of  God's  displeasure.  He 
must  be  excluded  from  the  temple,  not  because  he  has  a 
communicable  disease,  but  because  good  men  must  cooperate 
with  God  in  his  verdict. 

But  now  Job  rises,  as  upon  eagle's  wings,  to  his  loftiest 
ascent  of  faith  and  vision : 

But  as  for  me  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth, 
And  at  last  he  will  stand  up  upon  the  earth : 
And  after  my  skin,  even  this  body,  is  destroyed. 
Then  without  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God ; 
Whom  I,  even  I,  shall  see,  on  my  side. 
And  mine  eyes  shall  behold,  and  not  as  a  stranger. 

—Job  19:25-27. 

He  beholds  a  living  God,  who  will  act  as  his  Vindicator, 
his  Kinsman-Redeemer,  in  whose  presence  after  death  he 
shall  stand — not  apparently  to  enjoy  immortality — vindicated 
at  last' 

Singularly  enough  the  writer  does  not  permit  Job  to  stand 
long  on  this  peak  of  the  Delectable  Mountains.  His  hero 
falls  back  again,  more  quiet,  less  enamored  of  his  own  grief, 
listening  more  intently  for  "the  still  sad  music  of  humanity," 
practically  hopeless. 

In  Chapter  24,  Job  enters  a  general  indictment  of  God's 
regime,  after  which  he  turns  upon  his  friends :  "H  it  be  not 
so  now,  who  will  prove  me  a  liar?"  (24:25).  Of  course  if 
anyone   should   be  able   to   prove  him   a   liar   in   these  words 

'  The  probable  interpretation,  though  Jastrow,  "Hebrew  and  Babylonian 
Traditions,"  p.  235,  note,  speaks  of  "the  famous  passage,  19:  25-27  .  .  .  hope- 
lessly corrupt  through  later  contamination," 

384 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XIX-2] 

of  his,  none  would  be  so  happy  as  Job  himself,  for  he  thinks 
that  he  has  disproved  the  thesis  which  has  held  his  soul  in  life. 

Nineteenth  Week,  Second  Day. 

e.  God's  Wisdom  vs.  Man's  Wisdom. 

Read  all  of  Job  28,  with  its  literary  charm  and  religious  sug- 
gestiveness. 

But  where  shall  wisdom  be  found? 

And  where  is  the  place  of  understanding? 

Man  knoweth  not  the  price  thereof; 

Neither  is  it  found  in  the  land  of  the  living. 

The  deep  saith,  It  is  not  in  me; 

And  the  sea  saith,  It  is  not  with  me. 

It  cannot  be  gotten  for  gold, 

Neither  shall  silver  be  weighed  for  the  price  thereof. 

It  cannot  be  valued  with  the  gold  of  Ophir, 

With  the  precious  onyx,  or  the  sapphire. 

Gold  and  glass  cannot  equal  it, 

Neither  shall  it  be  exchanged  for  jewels  of  fine  gold. 

No  mention  shall  be  made  of  coral  or  of  crystal: 

Yea,  the  price  of  wisdom  is  above  rubies. 

The  topaz  of  Ethiopia  shall  not  equal  it. 

Neither  shall  it  be  valued  with  pure  gold. 

Whence  then  cometh  wisdom? 

And  where  is  the  place  of  understanding? 

Seeing  it  is  hid  from  the  eyes  of  all  living, 

And  kept  close  from  the  birds  of  the  heavens. 

Destruction  and  Death  say, 

We  have  heard  a  rumor  thereof  with  our  ears. 

God   understandfth   the  way  thereof, 

And  he  knoweth  the  place  thereof. 

For  he  looketh  to  the  ends  of  the  earth, 

And  seeth  under  the  whole  heaven  ; 

To  make  a  weight  for  the  wind  : 

Yea,  he  meteth  out  the  waters  by  measure. 

When  he  made  a  decree  for  the  rain. 

And  a  way  for  the  lightning  of  the  thunder; 

Then  did  he  see  it,  and  declare  it ; 

He  established  it,  yea,  and  searched  it  out. 

And  unto  man  he  said. 

Behold,  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom; 

And  to  depart  from  evil  is  understanding. 

—Job  28:  12-28. 

385 


IX1X-3J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

The  words  of  Chapter  28  certainly  do  not  belong  to  Job 
himself.  Many  writers  think  they  are  a  lyric  interlude,  or 
a  later  poem  welded  into  the  original  poem  to  express  a 
writer's  thought  that  the  problem  of  the  book  cannot  be 
solved.  Moulton  and  others  would  put  the  words  into  the 
lips  of  Zophar,  and  make  them  the  final  pronouncement  of 
the  three  friends.  "All  the  precious  things  of  the  world  can 
be  found  out,  but  the  wisdom  of  God,  the  underlying  plan  of 
the  universe,  cannot  be  found  out,  there  is  no  price  which 
man  can  pay  to  buy  it.  You,  Job,  have  been  asking,  'Why?' 
You  haven't  any  business  to  ask  that  question,  for  an  answer 
would  involve  the  revelation  of  a  wisdom  hidden  from  all 
men  ;  but  there  is  a  wisdom  for  you.  Unto  man  he  said,  'The 
fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom,  and  to  depart  from  evil  is 
understanding.' "  Thus  would  the  three  friends  shut  Job's 
mouth. 

The  words  are  glorious  and  true,  in  the  main.  But  shall 
it  be  unlawful  for  a  man  to  ask  the  question,  "Why?"  Then 
most  strong  men  will  become  lawbreakers  and  take  the  conse- 
quences. Incidentally  these  three  friends  who  don't  want 
Job  to  ask,  "Why?"  are  quite  sure  that  they  are  the  possessors 
of  the  correct  and  sufficing  answer. 

Nineteenth  Week,  Third  Day. 

In  Chapter  31,  Job  takes  an  "Oath  of  Clearing,"  in  which 
he  calls  down  upon  himself  the  most  terrible  curses  if  he  has 
not  attained  to  a  standard  of  conduct  and  of  thought  which 
brings  him  near  indeed  to  Jesus'  kingdom  of  heaven. 

If  I  have  rejoiced  at  the  destruction  of  him  that  hated 

me, 
Or  lifted  up  myself  when  evil  found  him 
(Yea,  I  have  not  suffered  my  mouth  to  sin 
I»y  asking  his  life  with  a  curse)  ; 
If  the  men  of  my  tent  have  not  said. 
Who  can   find   one   that  hath   not  been   filled  with  his 

meat? 
(The  sojourner  hath  not  lodged  in  the  street; 
iiut  I  have  opened  my  doors  to  the  traveller)  ; 

386 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XIX-3] 

If  like  Adam  I  have  covered  my  transgressions, 

By  hiding  mine  iniquity  in  my  bosom, 

Because  I  feared  the  great  multitude. 

And  the  contempt  of  families  terrified  me. 

So  that  I  kept  silence,  and  went  not  out  of  the  door — 

Oh  that  I  had  one  to  hear  me ! 

(Lo,  here  is  my  signature,  let  the  Almighty  answer  me) 

And  that   I  had  the  indictment  which  mine  adversary 

hath  written ! 
Surely  1  would  carry  it  upon  my  shoulder; 
I  would  bind  it  unto  me  as  a  crown : 
I  would  declare  unto  him  the  number  of  my  steps; 
As  a  prince  would  I  go  near  unto  him, — Job  31 :  29-37, 

If  he  could  only  learn  Jehovah's  indictment  against  him, 
he  would  wear  it  as  a  crown,  knowing  full  well  that  his 
character  would  cry  down  the  indictment, 

f,  Elihu's  Interposition   {2,2  to  37), 

For  God  speaketh  once, 

Yea  twice,   though   man   regardeth   it  not. 

In  a  dream,  in  a  vision  of  the  night, 

When  deep  sleep  falleth  upon  men, 

In  slumberings  upon  the  bed ; 

Then  he  openeth  the  ears  of  men, 

And  sealeth  their  instruction, 

That  he  may  withdraw  man  from  his  purpose, 

And  hide  pride  from  man ; 

He  keepeth  back  his  soul  from  the  pit, 

And  his  life  from  perishing  by  the  sword. 

He  is  chastened  also  with  pain  upon  his  bed, 

And  with  continual  strife  in  his  bones; 

So  that  his  life  abhorreth  bread. 

And  his  soul  dainty  food. 

His  flesh  is  consumed  away,  that  it  cannot  be  seen ; 

And  his  bones  that  were  not  seen  stick  out. 

Yea,  his  soul  draweth  near  unto  the  pit, 

And  his  life  to  the  destroyers. 

If  there  be  with  him  an  angel. 

An  interpreter,  one  among  a  thousand. 

To  show  unto  man  what  is  right  for  him ; 

Then  God  is  gracious  unto  him,  and  saith, 

Deliver  him  from  going  down  to  the  pit, 

I  have  found  a  ransom. 

387 


[XIX-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

His  flesh  shall  be  fresher  than  a  child's; 

He  returneth  to  the  days  of  his  youth. 

He  prayeth  unto  God,  and  he  is  favorable  unto  him. 

So  that  he  seeth  his  face  with  joy: 

And  he  restoreth  unto  man  his  righteousness. 

He  singeth  before  men,  and  saith, 

I  have  sinned,  and  perverted  that  which  was  right, 

A,nd  it  profited  me  not: 

He  hath  redeemed  my  soul  from  going  into  the  pit, 

And  my  life  shall  behold  the  light. 

—Job  iz  '■  14-28. 

The  interposition  of  Elihu,  the  contribution  of  a  later  writer, 
need  not  largely  concern  us.  It  takes  this  young  Sophomore 
of  a  theologian  "a  chapter  and  seven  verses"  to  get  well 
started ;  but  he  does  succeed  at  last  in  making  one  real  contri- 
bution to  the  solution  of  Job's  problem.  God  is  the  supreme 
teacher  (36:22),  who  instructs  by  pain  (33:14-24).  The 
great  purpose  of  suffering  is  warning,  discipline,  education, 
if  you  will.  The  words  have  an  element  of  truth.  President 
Schurman  has  reminded  us  that  by  pain  men  have  been  driven 
from  the  use  of  a  gastronomic  to  the  use  of  an  astronomic 
chronometer.  The  savage  under  his  palm  tree  determines 
the  time  of  day  by  the  appeals  of  his  stomach.  Pain  has 
disciplined,  developed,  educated  men ;  but  has  not  pain  also 
beaten,  broken,  brutalized  men?  So  far  as  Job  is  concerned, 
the  words  of  Elihu  again  are  quite  beside  the  mark. 

Nineteenth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

g.  Jehovah's  Intervention  (38  to  40:  14). 

Read  Job  39  to  40:14,  studying  it  as  an  achievement  "of 
Hebrew  genius  in  pure  poetry,"  and  observing  its  contri- 
bution to  the  argument. 

Of  this  as  literature,  a  writer  says:  "It  is  to  this  portion 
of  the  drama  that  the  student  must  turn  who  would  fain 
know  the  highest  attainment  of  the  Hebrew  genius  in  pure 
poetry,  such  as  Milton  would  have  recognized  as  poetry." 

Job  has  pleaded  for  an  audience  with  God.  At  last  God 
388 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XIX-4] 

gives  him  audience,  and  reveals  to  the  astonished  man  the 
wonders  of  the  natural  world.  The  answer  is  to  us  at  first 
disappointing.  But  the  introduction  of  the  wild  creatures 
means  this :  "Look  from  your  own  darkness  to  the  natural 
world,  which  is  luminous  with  God,  a  God  jubilantly  sym- 
pathetic with  all  his  creatures."  In  chapter  40  we  have 
Jehovah's  second  speech  out  of  the  whirlwind,  which  brings 
out  this  impressive  idea :  "Job,  you  challenge  the  rectitude  of 
the  universe,  pass  judgment  upon  me.  Very  well  then,  if  you 
propose  to  act  as  God,  the  judge  of  the  world,  assume  the 
other  functions  of  God  as  well."  It  is  a  daring  thing  for  man 
to  assume  God's  throne,  and  sit  in  judgment  upon  God.  But 
the  complete  purpose  of  Jehovah's  intervention  seems  to  be  to 
bring  to  Job:  First,  a  revelation  of  God's  power,  wisdom,  and 
eternal  activity  to  subdue  Job;  second,  a  revelation  of  God's 
exaltation  to  rebuke  Job's  arrogant  assumption  of  the  rights 
of  the  godhead;  third,  a  revelation  of  God's  sympathetic  in- 
terest and  delight  in  the  various  creatures  and  creations  of  the 
natural  world,  which  might  lead  Job  "to  forget  his  own  little 
suffering  in  the  category  of  life's  experiences,  sure  that  the 
soul  of  external  nature  is  good,  sympathetic";^  so  that  Job 
might  say  at  last : 

"As  the  marsh-hen  secretly  builds  on  the  watery  sod, 
Behold  I  will  build  me  a  nest  on  the  greatness  of  God: 
I  will  fly  in  the  greatness  of  God,  as  the  marsh-hen 

flies 
In  the  freedom  that  fills  all  the  space  'twixt  the  marsh 

and  the  skies: 
By  so  many  roots  as  the  marsh-grass  sends  in  the  sod, 
I  will  heartily  lay  me  a-hold  on  the  greatness  of  God." 
— Sidney  Lanier,  "The  Marshes  of  Glynn." 

The  poet  would  have  his  hero  rest  in  the  greatness  and 
goodness  of  God,  rise  in  the  greatness  and  goodness  of  God, 
lay  hold  on  the  greatness  and  goodness  of  God. 

We  hear  Job's  final  word:  "I  know  that  thou  canst  do  all 

8  Interpretation  due  in  part  to  W.  T.  Davison. 
389 


[XIX-5J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

things"— but  he  had  known  that  all  the  time.  He  goes  fur- 
ther:  "I  had  heard  of  thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear;  but 
now  mine  eye  seeth  thee"   (42:2,  5). 

Observe — he  has  seen  no  explanation  of  his  suffering;  he 
has  passed  beyond  the  need  of  explanation :  he  has  seen  God. 

Nineteenth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

With  the  light  that  Christ  has  shed  upon  our  pathway, 
realizing  that  nature  gives  us  "an  ambiguous  answer"  to  our 
questions,  we  probably  would  not  have  followed  the  reason- 
ing of  Job's  three  friends,  nor  yet  that  of  the  poet  himself. 
We  would  probably  spend  some  time  in  silent,  helpful  service 
to  Job's  physical  misery.  Then  some  day  we  should  say  to 
him: 

First:  There  are  many  things  I  do  not  know,  about  which 
for  the  present  we  can  and  must  maintain  a  reverent  agnos- 
ticism. 

Second :  I  do  know  that  much  suffering  is  due  to  personal 
sin.  Such  suffering  offers  no  moral  problem.  It  is  good 
that  sin  and  pain  grow  from  the  same  stem.  On  the  other 
hand,  I  know  that  much  pain  is  not  due  to  personal  sin.  If 
it  were,  then  the  world's  greatest  saints,  heroes,  martyrs,  have 
been  the  greatest  sinners. 

Third :  I  know  that  much  pain  is  protective,  bidding  us, 
"Stop,  Look,  Listen." 

Fourth :  I  know  that  much  pain  is  necessary  vicarious  pain, 
suffered  because  of  others'  sins ;  nor  does  this  offer  a  desolat- 
ing problem.  There  is  no  appeal  to  goodness  comparable 
with  this:  If  I  sin,  the  inevitable  pain  will  fall  most  surely 
not  on  me  but  upon  those  whom,  in  spite  of  my  selfishness,  I 
love.  Further,  I  know  that  much  pain  is  voluntary  vicarious 
suffering.  This  pain  offers  no  problem.  Those  who  suffer 
thus  are  the  glory  of  the  world,  the  messengers  of  deity.  In 
their  faces  we  see  "the  face  of  the  Eternal."  The  author 
of  Job  seems  not  to  have  known  or  been  impressed  by  the 
great  passage  Isaiah  53.     In  one  word,  I  know  that  pain  is 

390 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XIX-5] 

a  part  of  the  price  the  world  thus  far  pays  for  its  joy,  its 
progress  in  the  material  and  in  the  spiritual  spheres. 

Granted  a  world  in  which  pain  must  play  its  part,  it  is 
not  good  that  Job  should  go  scot-free.  It  is  not  good  that 
righteousness  and  prosperity  should  always  fall  together. 
Then  would  men  be  tempted  to  be  righteous  for  revenue  only, 
then  would  we  have  a  bargain-counter  religion. 

So  we  should  go  on  to  try  to  transfigure  suffering  into  an 
instrument  of  redemption.  And  we  should  be  encouraged  by 
innumerable  illustrations  of  sick  men,  sorrowing  men,  who 
have  been  masters  of  fate,  saviours  of  men.  "The  pleasures 
of  each  generation,"  says  Illingworth,  "evaporate  in  air;  it 
is  their  pains  that  increase  the  spiritual  momentum  of  the 
world." 

And  then  we  should  hasten  on  to  Jesus.  If  ever  one  knew 
life,  it  was  Jesus.  If  ever  one  knew  God,  it  was  Jesus.  If 
ever  there  has  been  a  revelation  of  God,  it  was  in  Jesus.  And 
the  follower  of  Jesus  can  say:  'T  am  perfectly  sure  of  God's 
love,  even  though  I  cannot  understand  his  ways ;  and  I  am 
perfectly  sure  of  that  immortality  of  which  Job  scarcely  dared 
to  dream."  It  is  Jesus  who  makes  it  possible  for  a  man  to 
say,  without  a  pose : 

"Of  wounds  and  sore  defeat, 

I  made  my  battle  stay ; 
Winged  sandals   for  my  feet 

I  wove  of  my  delay ; 
Of  weariness  and  fear 

I  made  my  shouting  spear ; 
Of  loss  and  doubt  and  dread 

And  swift  oncoming  doom 
I  made  a  helmet  for  my  head 

And  a  floating  plume." 

The  epilogue  seems  to  us  of  the  West  a  rather  cheap  end- 
ing to  such  a  mighty  poem.  Like  the  prose  prologue,  it  may 
have  belonged  to  a  Job  tradition,  which  served  as  the  frame 
for  the  picture.  Yet  even  we  of  the  West  like  to  have  our 
stories  come  out  right,  and  the  Orient  well  loved  the  external 

391 


[XIX-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

marks  of  God's  favor.  And  external  marks  of  favor  are  not 
harmful  when  God's  favor  has  been  revealed  to  the  yearning 
heart. 

The  poem  is  sad  with  the  sadness  inevitable  to  any  clear 
thinking  in  the  times  before  Christ.  It  is  sublime  in  its  pre- 
sentation of  a  man  who  is  lifted  from  his  ash-heap  and  his 
anguish  into  God's  world  of  power  and  joy,  achievement  and 
comradeship.  As  late  as  the  days  of  Jesus,  men  assumed  that 
those  must  have  been  sinners  upon  whom  the  tower  of  Siloam 
fell;  they  assumed  that  the  blind  man  must  ht  the  victim  of 
his  own  or  his  parents'  sin.  But  the  Christian  centuries  have 
listened  to  the  poet's  word,  and  have  learned,  though  none 
too  well,  to  stand  in  humble,  reverent,  studious  silence  before 
the  problem  of  pain,  leaving  dogmatism  to  the  past  and  the 
present  friends  of  Job,  hearing  the  words  of  Tennyson's 
Ancient  Sage,  who  bids  his  friend  to  climb  the  Mount  of 
Blessing, 

"Whence,  if  thou 
Look  higher,  then — perchance — thou  mayest — beyond 
A  hundred  ever-rising  mountain  lines 
And  past  the  range  of  Night  and  Shadow — see 
The  high-heaven  dawn  of  more  than  mortal  day 
Strike  on  the  Mount  of  Vision!" 

"The  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God,"  and  they  can  wait  before 
life's  fast-closed  doors  till  God  shall  choose  to  open  and  make 
all  things  clear. 

Nineteenth  Week,  Sixth  Day, 

7.  Joel — The  Religion  of  the  Rent  Heart  and 
THE  Solemn  Assembly 

Read  Joel  i  and  2,  with  the  vivid  description  of  locusts  and 
drought,  and  the  priestly  appeal  to  the  worship  of  the 
broken  heart,  and  the  temple. 

Possibly  in  the  days  of  the  writers  of  Ruth  and  of  Job, 
possibly  about  2>2,2>  B.  C,  the  prophet  Joel  uttered  his  message. 

392 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XIX-6] 

The  author  of  Ruth  had  attacked  the  prevalent  remorseless 
insistence  on  purity  of  blood.  The  author  of  Job  had  attacked 
the  popular  and  priestly  theology.  Joel  finds  within  the  ac- 
customed channel  of  priestly  thought  and  custom  ample 
room  for  the  flow  of  his  own  ideas. 

The  occasion  of  his  prophecy  was  the  approach  of  a  fright- 
ful plague  of  locusts  and  an  equally  frightful  drought.  The 
individual  locust  has  a  head  extraordinarily  like  that  of  a 
horse,  and  hosts  of  locusts  sweep  over  the  fields  like  war- 
horses,  and  darken  the  mountains  with  their  numbers. 

For  a  nation  is  come  up  upon  my  land,  strong,  and 
without  number;  his  teeth  are  the  teeth  of  a  lion,  and 
he  hath  the  jaw-teeth  of  a  lioness.  He  hath  laid  my 
vine  waste,  and  barked  my  fig-tree :  he  hath  made  it 
clean  bare,  and  cast  it  away ;  the  branches  thereof  are 
•made  white.  .  ,  .  The  appearance  of  them  is  as  the  ap- 
pearance of  horses ;  and  as  horsemen,  so  do  they  run. 
Like  the  noise  of  chariots  on  the  tops  of  the  mountains 
do  they  leap,  like  the  noise  of  a  flame  of  fire  that 
devoureth  the  stubble,  as  a  strong  people  set  in  battle 
array.  At  their  presence  the  peoples  are  in  anguish; 
all  faces  are  waxed  pale.  They  run  like  mighty  men ; 
they  climb  the  wall  like  men  of  war;  and  they  march 
every  one  on  his  ways,  and  they  break  not  their  ranks. 
Neither  doth  one  thrust  another ;  they  march  every 
one  in  his  path ;  and  they  burst  through  the  weapons, 
and  break  not  off  their  course.  They  leap  upon  the 
city ;  they  run  upon  the  wall ;  they  climb  up  into  the 
houses ;  they  enter  in  at  the  windows  like  a  thief. — 
Joel  1 :  6,  7 ;  2 :  4-9. 

In  speaking  of  Argentina,  after  referring  to  the  droughts, 
James  Bryce  says : 

"The  other  danger  is  a  plague  of  locusts.  These  horrible 
creatures  come  in  swarms  so  vast  as  to  be  practically  irre- 
sistible. Expedients  may  be  used  to  destroy  them  while  they 
are  walking  along  the  ground  by  digging  trenches  in  their 
path,  tumbling  them  in  and  burning  them,  but  many  survive 
these  efforts,  and  when  they  get  on  the  wing,  nothing  can  be 
done  to  check  their  devastating  flight.  .  .  .  Men  talk  of  erect- 
ing a  gigantic  fence  of  zinc  to  stop  the  march  of  the  creatures 

393 


[XIX-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

southward  from  the  Gran  Chaco,  for  here,  as  in  South  Africa, 
they  seem  to  come  out  of  the  wilderness."" 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Great  War,  Palestine  was  visited 
by  a  similar  plague.  The  Arabs  were  practically  inert  before 
the  invasion  of  "God's  Army,"  as  they  call  the  locusts.  A 
writer  says : 

"Not  only  was  every  green  leaf  devoured,  but  the  very  bark 
was  peeled  from  the  trees,  which  stood  out  white  and  lifeless, 
like  skeletons.  The  fields  were  stripped  to  the  ground,  and 
the  old  men  of  our  villages,  who  had  given  their  lives  to 
cultivating  these  gardens  and  vineyards,  came  out  of  the 
synagogues  where  they  had  been  praying  and  wailing,  and 
looked  on  the  ruin  with  dimmed  eyes.  Nothing  was  spared. 
The  insects,  in  their  fierce  hunger,  tried  to  engulf  everything 
in  their  way.  I  have  seen  Arab  babies,  left  by  their  mothers 
in  the  shade  of  some  tree,  whose  faces  had  been  devoured  by 
the  oncoming  swarms  of  locusts  before  their  screams  had  been 
heard." 

In  the  prophet's  day,  because  of  the  drought  and  the  locusts, 
the  meal  offering  and  the  drink  offering  which  Joel  counted 
as  of  extreme  importance  were  withholden  from  the  House 
if  God.  Well  might  priests  gird  themselves  with  sackcloth 
and  lament;  well  might  the  ministers  of  the  sanctuary  lie 
all  night  in  sackcloth  (1:13).  No  prophet  before  the  Exile 
would  have  spoken  of  the  ritual  in  this  way.  Jehovah  alone 
can  help  in  the  crisis.  So  priests  and  people,  bride  and  bride- 
groom— all  are  summoned  to  join  in  prayers  of  intercession  in 
the  sanctuary. 

Yet  even  now,  saith  Jehovah,  turn  ye  unto  me  with 
all  your  heart,  and  with  fasting,  and  with  weeping,  and 
with  mourning:  and  rend  your  heart,  and  not  your  gar- 
ments, and  turn  unto  Jehovah  your  God;  for  he  is 
gracious  and  merciful,  slow  to  anger,  and  abundant  in 
lovingkindness,  and  repenteth  him  of  the  evil.  Who 
knowcth  whether  he  will  not  turn  and  repent,  and  leave 
a  blessing  behind  him,  even  a  meal-offering  and  a  drink- 
offering  unto  Jehovah  your   God? 

•  "Impressions  of  South  America,"  p.  334. 

394 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XIX-7] 

Blow  the  trumpet  in  Zion,  sanctify  a  fast,  call  a 
solemn  assembly ;  gather  the  people,  sanctify  the  assem- 
bly, assemble  the  old  men,  gather  the  children,  and  those 
that  suck  the  breasts ;  let  the  bridegroom  go  forth  from 
his  chamber,  and  the  bride  out  of  her  closet. — Joel  2: 
12-16. 

But  we  hear  again  that  veritable  note  of  the  prophet,  which 
we  heard  in  Malachi :  "Rend  your  hearts  and  not  your  gar- 
ments" (Joel  2:  13).  Is  the  ceremony  important?  Yes,  vastly 
important,  but  important  only  as  the  expression  of  the  attitude 
of  the  heart. 

A  searching  question  was  put  recently  to  a  public  assembly : 
"If  the  men  of  the  United  States  were  suddenly  and  continu- 
ously to  refuse  to  attend  the  social  worship  of  the  sanctuary, 
who  would  care  to  be  President  of  the  United  States?" 

As  Joel  continues  the  Ezekiel  tradition  in  his  em.phasis  on 
ritual  and  character,  so,  in  a  later  prophecy,  he  follows  Ezekiel 
in  his  conception  of  the  Day  of  Jehovah.  Down  in  the  valley 
of  Jehoshaphat  (Jehovah  judgeth)  he  sees  the  nations  gather- 
ing themselves  for  battle  against  the  people  of  Jehovah, 
"Multitudes,  multitudes  in  the  valley  of  decision  !"  But  sud- 
den destruction  falls  upon  God's  foes,  while  the  sun  and  the 
moon  are  darkened,  and  the  stars  withdraw  their  shining 
(3:12-15). 

Nineteenth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

Peter,  in  his  second  epistle,  adopted  or  rather  adapted  a 
section  of  this  prophecy,  which  speaks  of  the  excitement  and 
"ecstatic  states  and  acts"  of  those  who  have  a  presentiment 
of  the  coming  of  the  Day.  Again  we  mark  that"  singular 
change  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy  which  we  noted  first  in 
Nahum,  and  noticed  as  increasingly  prominent  in  the  later 
years :  The  day  of  Jehovah  comes  not  to  destroy  the  sinners 
in  Zion,  but  to  destroy  the  nations  whose  cruelties  *were 
breaking  the  heart  of  Israel.  Again  we  observe  the  growing 
emphasis  upon  the  spectacular  and  supernatural  elements  of 
the  Day  of  Jehovah. 

395 


[XlX-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

In  "The  Battle-Hymn  of  the  Republic,"  we  sing: 

Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord; 
He  is  trampling  out  the  vintage  where  the  grapes  of  wrath 

are  stored  ; 
He  hath  loosed  the   fateful  lightning  of   His   terrible  swift 

sword ; 

His  truth  is  marching  on. 

I  have  seen   Him  in   the  watch-fires  of   a  hundred  circling 

camps ; 
They  have  builded  Him  an  altar  in  the  evening  dews   and 

damps ; 
I   can   read   His  righteous   sentence  by  the  dim   and  flaring 

lamps ; 

His  day  is  marching  on. 

I  have  read  a  fiery  gospel,  writ  in  burnished  rows  of  steel: 
'As  ye  deal  with  my  contemners,  so  with  you  my  grace  shall 

deal : 
Let  the  Hero,  born  of  woman,  crush  the  serpent  with  his 

heel, 

Since  God  is  marching  on.' 

He   has    sounded    forth    the    trumpet   that    shall    never    call 

retreat ; 
He  is  sifting  out  the  hearts  of  men  before  his  judgment  seat: 
Oh,  be  swift,  my  soul,  to  answer  Him!  be  jubilant,  my  feet! 
Our  God  is  marching  on." 


The  author  sees  the  coming  of  the  Day  of  Jehovah,  She 
sees  the  ruin  of  those  who  fight  against  her  country.  She 
knows  that  the  Hero  born  of  woman  will  crush  the  serpent 
with  his  heel.  She  sees,  too,  Jehovah  sifting  out  the  hearts 
of  men  before  his  judgment  seat.  But,  taught  rather  by  the 
earlier  prophets  and  by  her  Lord,  she  sees  Jehovah,  not  in  the 
darkened  sun  or  the  withdrawn  moon :  she  sees  him  in  the 
watchfires  of  a  hundred  circling  camps.  She  reads  his  fiery 
gospel  not  in  quaking  heavens  and  earth,  but  in  burnished 
rows  of  steel.  Joel  is  never  forgetful  of  righteousness,  but 
his  view  of  the  early,  sudden,  cataclysmic  coming  of  the  Day 
of  Jehovah  tends  to  weaken  endeavor,  to  put  out  the  watch- 

396 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XX-i] 

fires  of  the  human  fighters  for  the  freedom  of  the  world,  and 
to  dull  men's  ears  to  the  trumpet  that  shall  never  call  retreat. 

Some  of  the  poetry  of  Joel  is  of  exquisite  beauty.  He  pur- 
sues bravely  the  well-beaten  path  of  his  priestly-prophetic 
predecessors.  His  God  is  gracious  and  merciful,  slow  to 
anger,  and  abundant  in  lovingkindness.  God's  summons  is 
to  the  rending  of  hearts  and  to  the  solemn  assembly.  That 
message  is  not  out  of  date. 

Twentieth  Week,  First  Day. 

8.  Jonah — The  Bigot,  and  the  Gospel  of  the  Love 
•  OF  God, 

"Broader  than  the  Measure  of  Man's  Mind" 

Read  Jonah  i,  2,  and  4,  and  note  the  humor,  the  kindly  irony, 
the  unanswerable  argument  of  the  prophet. 

We  have  seen  that  the  priests  and  the  scribes  did  not  have 
their  own  way  in  Jerusalem.  The  voices  of  the  earlier 
prophets  were  still  vibrating  in  the  hearts  of  many  of  the 
noblest  of  the  people.  Men  could  not  forget  that  glorious 
description  of  Jehovah's  appearance  to  the  first  liberator, 
leader,  legislator  of  Israel:  "And  Jehovah  passed  by  before 
him,  and  proclaimed,  Jehovah,  Jehovah,  a  God  merciful  and 
gracious,  slow  to  anger,  and  abundant  in  lovingkindness  and 
truth ;  keeping  lovingkindness  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity 
and  transgression  and  sin"  (Exodus  34:6,  7).  Men  could 
not  forget  that  word  in  Jeremiah,  "At  what  instant  I  shall 
speak  concerning  a  nation,  and  concerning  a  kingdom,  to 
pluck  up  and  to  break  down  and  to  destroy  it;  if  that  nation, 
concerning  which  I  have  spoken,  turn  from  their  evil,  I  will 
repent  of  the  evil  that  I  thought  to  do  unto  them"  (Jer.  18: 
7,  8).  Men  could  not  forget  the  hopes  of  world  service  and 
world  brotherhood  which  thrilled  the  unknown  prophet.  This 
magnanimity  and  this  conviction  of  world  mission  blaze  forth 
afresh  in  the  book  of  Jonah.    The  author  is*supposed  to  have 

397 


[XX-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

written  about  350  B.  C,  but  his  book  is  another  of  the  time- 
less books  of  the  world. 

He  puts  his  message  into  the  form  of  a  story  or  parable, 
descriptive  of  experiences  attributed  to  a  prophet  of  the  period 
of  Jeroboam  II  (see  p.  200  and  II  Kings  14:25).  The  story 
is  this :  The  prophet  Jonah  received  a  message  from  Jehovah 
to  Nineveh,  the  ancient  capital  of  Assyria.  It  was  a  message 
of  doom.  But,  knowing  well  the  compassion  of  Jehovah, 
Jonah  was  fearful  lest  Nineveh  should  repent  upon  his 
preaching,  and  therefore  the  hopes  of  hate  which  he  had 
cherished  might  be  thwarted.  Fie  went  down  to  Joppa. 
There — quite  providentially ! — was  a  ship  all  ready  to  sail  for 
Tarshish,  which  lies  in  a  direction  precisely  opposite  to  that 
of  Nineveh.  "And  Jonah  paid  the  fare."  No  stowaway  he; 
an  honorable  man !    A  storm  arose. 

But  Jehovah  sent  out  a  great  wind  upon  the  sea,  and 
there  was  a  mighty  tempest  on  the  sea,  so  that  the  ship 
was  like  to  be  broken.  Then  the  mariners  were  afraid, 
and  cried  every  man  unto  his  god ;  and  they  cast  forth 
the  wares  that  were  in  the  ship  into  the  sea,  to  lighten 
it  unto  them.  But  Jonah  was  gone  down  into  the  inner- 
most parts  of  the  ship;  and  he  lay,  and  was  fast  asleep. 
So  the  shipmaster  came  to  him,  and  said  unto  him, 
What  meanest  thou,  O  sleeper?  arise,  call  upon  thy  God, 
if  so  be  that  God  will  think  upon  us,  that  we  perish  not. 
And  they  said  every  one  to  his  fellow.  Come,  and  let 
us  cast  lots,  that  we  may  know  for  whose  cause  this  evil 
is  upon  us.  So  they  cast  lots,  and  the  lot  fell  upon 
Jonah.  Then  said  they  unto  him.  Tell  us,  we  pray  thee, 
for  whose  cause  this  evil  is  upon  us;  what  is  thine  occu- 
pation? and  whence  comest  thou?  what  is  thy  country? 
and  of  what  people  art  thou?  And  he  said  unto  them, 
I  am  a  Hebrew  ;  and  I  fear  Jehovah,  the  God  of  heaven, 
who  hath  made  the  sea  and  the  dry  land. — Jonah  1 14-9. 

While  the  "heathen"  sailors  prayed,  God's  man  slept.  The 
siiipmaster  must  wake  him,  and,  though  a  heathen,  must  in- 
struct him  to  pray  that  the  sea  become  calm.  By  lot,  Jonah 
was  pointed  out  as  the  cause  of  the  ship's  peril.  In  fright- 
ened haste  the  mariners  questioned  him :  "What  are  you  doing 

398 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XX-i] 

on  this  ship?     What  is  your  business  here?'"     What  is  your 
country?    Of  what  people  are  you?" 

Instantly  the  prophet's  formal,  familiar  creed  was  upon 
his  lips :  "I  am  a  Hebrew,  and  I  fear  Jehovah,  who  hath 
made  the  sea  and  the  dry  land."  Curiously  his  deed  belied 
his  creed.  The  sailors  might  well  have  asked  him,  "How  then 
do  you  think  to  flee  from  the  presence  of  this  all-creator?" 
They  did  not  ask  him.  Generously  they  rowed,  "dug  hard,"  to 
get  to  land,  did  their  best  to  worship  and  to  appease  the 
wrathful  God  of  Jonah.  The  reader  comes  to  like  these 
heathen  almost  as  much  as  he  loathes  Jonah.  And  the  writer 
intended  that  he  should.  Jonah  did  have  courage  enough 
to  request  the  sailors  to  throw  him  into  the  sea.  After  he 
had  been  three  days  in  the  belly  of  the  great  fish,  and  had 
had  opportunity  for  self-contemplation,  the  prophet  had  an- 
other chance.  Bedraggled  as  he  was,  he  heard  Jehovah  speak 
to  him  a  second  time:  "Go  unto  Nineveh,  that  great  city, 
and  preach  the  preaching  that  I  bid  thee."  This  time  Jonah 
preached ;  Nineveh  repented ;  and  from  the  king  down  to  the 
humblest  citizen  the  people  believed  God,  and  the  very  beasts 
of  Nineveh  were  constrained  to  join  in  the  season  of  fast- 
ing which  marked  the  universal  repentance. 

And  God  saw  their  works,  that  they  turned  from 
their  evil  way ;  and  God  repented  of  the  evil  which  he 
said  he  would  do  unto  them ;  and  he  did  it  not. 

But  it  displeased  Jonah  exceedmgly,  and  he  was 
angry.  And  he  prayed  unto  Jehovah,  and  said,  I  pray 
thee,  O  Jehovah,  was  not  this  my  saying,  when  I  was 
yet  in  my  country?  Therefore  I  hasted  to  flee  unto 
Tarshish ;  for  I  knew  that  thou  art  a  gracious  God, 
and  merciful,  slow  to  anger,  and  abundant  in  loving- 
kindness,  and  repentest  thee  of  the  evil.  Therefore 
now,  O  Jehovah,  take,  I  beseech  thee,  my  life  from  me ; 
for  it  is  better  for  me  to  die  than  to  live.  And  Jeho- 
vah said,  Doest  thou  well  to  be  angry?  Then  Jonah 
went  out  of  the  city,  and  sat  on  the  east  side  of  the 
city,  and  there  made  him  a  booth,  and  sat  under  it  in 


1"  Int.  Com.  Jonah,  p.  36. 

399 


[XX-2J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

the  shade,  till  he  might  see  what  would  become  of  the 
city.— 3  :  10-4 :  5- 

A  writer  tells  us  that  he  once  asked  a  devout  member  of 
one  of  the  Eastern  churches,  why  God  had  made  so  many 
Mohammedans.  "Fierce  and  hot  came  back  the  answer,  'To 
lill  up  hell.' "  Jonah  had  been  quite  sure  that  some  such  fate 
was  the  legitimate  end  of  the  heathen.  He  had  no  sympathy 
with  the  grace  and  mercy  and  abundant  lovingkindness  of  his 
Go^J.  He  "just  knew"  that  God  would  repent  him  of  the 
evil.  Forgiveness  and  life  for  these  Assyrians  who  have  laid 
waste  the  world?  Justice,  death,  is  too  good  for  them.  "For- 
give the  debts  of  America — that's  all  right;  but  the  debts  of 
Germany?  No,  let  her  pay  to  the  uttermost  farthing.  For- 
giveness is  not  goodness;  it  is  good  nature!" 

Twentieth  Week,  Second  Day. 

Jehovah  had  to  take  Jonah  in  hand  once  more.  As  the 
storm  and  the  great  fish  had  been  his  ministers,  now  a  gourd 
(or  castor-oil  tree)  was  prepared  for  the  prophet.  This 
happily  grew  up  in  a  night  and  sheltered  Jonah  from  the  heat. 
Like  us  who  retire  from  the  city  to  our  suburban  homes, 
Jonah  under  his  booth  and  the  shelter  of  his  gourd  watched 
to  see  what  would  become  of  the  city.  But  Jehovah  now 
ordered  a  worm  to  smite  the  gourd,  and  it  v/ithered.  Then 
God  ordered  a  sultry  east  wind,  which  beat  upon  the  prophet's 
head.  Like  Elijah,  though  with  worse  reason,  Jonah  prayed 
for  himself  that  he  might  die,  and  said,  "It  is  better  for  me 
to  die  than  to  live."  The  mean  little  bigot  had  begun  to  take 
a  human  interest  in  this  wild  thing  of  nature,  which  had 
kindly  sheltered  him  from  the  sultry  wind;  and  now  this 
wretched  worm  had  destroyed  the  friendly  living  thing.  God 
turned  upon  the  bigot:  "Ah,  Jonah,  you  have  had  regard  for 
this  gourd,  a  thing  for  which  you  did  not  labor,  which  came 
up  in  a  night  and  perished  in  a  night,  and  should  I  not  have 
regard  for  Nineveh,  that  great  city  in  which  there  are  more 
than   120,000  little  babies  and  also  much  cattle?     Are  you,  a 

400 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XX-2I 

man,  to  have  compassion  upon  a  poor  plant,  yet  hate,  and 
expect  me  to  hate,  the  multitudes  of  a  great  city,  whose  people 
are  heathen,  oh,  yes,  but  my  children?  Shall  I,  the  Creator 
of  all,  the  source  of  all  the  loves  of  earth,  have  compassion 
alone  upon  Israel,  and  condemnation  for  all  the  rest  of  the 
world?" 

The  author  was  not  narrating  history.  To  treat  his  mes- 
sage as  a  record  of  literal  fact  is  to  miss  its  meaning  and 
value.  It  is  futile  to  seek  for  instances  in  which  great  fish 
have  held  men  for  longer  or  shorter  periods.  Such  investiga- 
tions, should  they  meet  with  undeniable  success,  prove  noth- 
ing of  value  and  are  utterly  alien  to  the  spirit  of  the  story. 
The  author,  with  quaint  humor,  tells  how  God  ordered  the 
great  fish ;  tells  us  also  how  he  ordered,  ordered  up :  the 
great  storm ;  the  gourd  of  miraculous  growth ;  the  hot  wind ; 
and  the  deadly  worm.  To  the  writer,  Nineveh  and  its  ruler — 
never  in  history  called  the  King  of  Nineveh — were  in  the 
remote  past.  He  was  not  concerned  to  tell  us  how  Jonah 
could  speak  with  such  swift  and  universal  eft'ectiveness  to 
men  of  foreign  speech  and  of  superlative  arrogance.  Nor 
was  he  concerned  to  tell  us  what  happened  to  his  unheroic 
hero  after  his  compulsory  evangelism.  He  was  concerned 
simply  to  bring  to  his  people— and  Israel  is  sometimes  called 
dove,  in  the  Hebrew,  Jonah — a  conviction  of  the  sin  of  nar- 
rowness, bigotry.  He  would  constrain  them  to  believe  in  an 
evangel  like  that  of  Hosea  but  certainly  universal,  the  evangel 
of  the  world-wide  compassionate  love  of  God.  In  the  spirit 
of  him  who  wrote  of  the  suffering,  saving  Servant  of  Jehovah, 
he  would  call  his  people  to  world  service,  and  world  saviour- 
hood. 

The  book  of  Jonah  is  in  a  sense  the  Old  Testament  parable 
of  the  Prodigal  Son.  The  prophet  Jonah  is  the  unfeeling 
elder  brother,  who  is  indignant  that  the  Father  treats  with 
forgiveness  and  compassion  the  son  who  has  gone  into  the 
far  country. 

It  is  one  of  the  ironies  of  history  that  we  Gentiles  for 
centuries  have  treated  with  contempt  and  cruelty  the  Jews, 

401 


1XX-3J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

who  in  the  olden  days  were  taught  by  God's  prophet  not  to 
treat  us  with  contempt  and  cruelty. 

Twentieth  Week,  Third  Day. 

9.  A   Concluding   Study   of  the   Persian   Period 

(With    the    aid    of    undated    prophecies,    tentatively    assigned 
to  this  period.) 

Thus  we  have  tried  to  trace  some  of  the  currents  and  cross- 
currents of  thought  flowing  through  the  life  of  the  Jews 
during  the  two  centuries  of  the  Persian  Period. 

a.  The  Ritual. 

We  have  observed  the  increasing  importance  of  ritual.  The 
numberless  and  intricate  details  of  the  Law  were  diligently 
studied  by  groups  and  guilds  of  the  laity,  who  came  to  be 
known  as  scribes.  The  studies  of  the  synagogue  enforced  the 
observance  of  fasts  and  feasts,  and  particularly  the  law  of  the 
Sabbath.  It  is  suggestive  of  the  increasing  devotion  to  the 
Sabbath  that  shortly  after  the  close  of  the  period  under  dis- 
cussion, 321  B.  C,  Ptolemy  I  was  able  to  capture  the  city 
of  Jerusalem  without  any  trouble  because  of  the  unanimous 
refusal  of  the  Jews  to  fight  on  the  Sabbath." 

The  high  priest  gained  more  and  more  authority,  until  he 
practically  assumed  kingly  functions  within  the  Jewish  com- 
munity. Surrounding  the  high  priest  were  various  orders  of 
ecclesiastics :  priests,  Levites,  choruses  of  singers  who  em- 
ployed in  their  worship  many  of  the  psalms  found  today  in 
our  Psalter. 

The  breach  between  Jerusalem  and  the  Samaritans  became 
a  gulf  fixed.  On  Mount  Gerizim  rose  a  temple,  where  the 
Samaritans  nursed  their  devotion  to  the  ancient  Law  and 
iheir  hatred  of  their  brother  Jews. 

The  general  observance  of  ritual  was  not  regarded  as 
peculiarly   irksome.     Multitudes  there   were   who   could   hon- 

"  G.  A.  Smith,  "Jerusalem,"  Vol.  II,  p.  362. 
402 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XX-3] 

estly  use  the  Psalmist's  words :  "How  love  I  thy  law."  In 
Isaiah  58  there  is  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  confidence 
of  men  in  the  spiritual  efficacy  of  obedience  to  the  law  :*^ 

If  thou  turn  away  thy  foot  from  the  sabbath,  from 
doing  thy  pleasure  on  my  holy  day ;  and  call  the  sabbath 
a  delight,  and  the  holy  of  Jehovah  honorable;  and  shalt 
honor  it,  not  doing  thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine 
own  pleasure,  nor  speaking  thine  own  words  :  then  shalt 
thou  delight  thyself  in  Jehovah ;  and  I  will  make  thee 
•  to  ride  upon  the  high  places  of  the  earth  ;  and  I  will 
feed  thee  with  the  heritage  of  Jacob  thy  father:  for  the 
mouth  of  Jehovah  hath  spoken  it. — Isa.  58 :  13,  14. 

Jean  Kenyon  Mackenzie  tells  us  that  she  has  known  of 
"two  old  women  of  Africa  who  had  a  little  wooden  calendar 
of  seven  holes,  with  a  peg  to  mark  the  passage  of  the  days, 
and  coming  to  the  seventh  day  they  rested  in  their  houses. 
Other  women  might  go  to  their  gardens  on  that  day ;  as  for 
them  they  were  religious."  They  knew  no  more  of  the  reli- 
gion of  the  white  missionary  than  that,  but  their  little  knowl- 
edge was  to  them  emancipating.  They  were  set  free  from 
the  intricacies  of  man-made  taboo,  and  to  the  liberty  of  obedi- 
ence to  what  they  believed  to  be  God's  law. 

And  have  we  not  all  felt  the  liberating  effect  of  obedience 
to  a  noble  law,  like  that  of  the  Sabbath? 

b.  Righteousness. 

Notwithstanding  the  increasing  em.phasis  upon  ritual,  law, 
we  have  noted  a  continuous  emphasis  upon  character,  justice. 
Jehovah's  hand  is  not  shortened,  that  it  cannot  save ;  neither 
his  ear  heavy,  that  it  cannot  hear.  Hands  defiled  with  blood 
and  fingers  with  iniquity,  lips  that  have  spoken  lies,  tongues 
that  have  muttered  wickedness' — sin  has  separated  men  from 
God  (see  Isa.  59:1-3).  "The  wicked  are  like  the  troubled 
sea ;  for  it  cannot  rest,  and  its  waters  cast  up  mire  and  dirt" 
(Isa.    57:20).     Does   prophetic  thought  glorify   the   external 


12  Isaiah  56  to  66  are  assumed  to  belong  to  the  Persian  Period. 
403 


[XX-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

observance  of  the  Sabbath?     It  speaks  with  the  old-time  con- 
viction of  the  true  fast : 

Wherefore  have  we  fasted,  say  they,  and  thou  seest 
net?  wherefore  have  we  afflicted  our  soul,  and  thou 
takest  no  knowledge?  Behold,  in  the  day  of  your  fast 
ye  find  your  own  pleasure,  and  exact  all  your  labors. 
Behold,  ye  fast  for  strife  and  contention,  and  to  smite 
with  the  fist  of  wickedness :  ye  fast  not  this  day  so  as 
to  make  your  voice  to  be  heard  on  high.  Is  such  the 
fast  that  I  have  chosen  ?  the  day  for  a  man  to  afflict 
his  soul?  Is  it  to  bow  down  his  head  as  a  rush,  and  to 
spread  sackcloth  and  ashes  under  him?  wilt  thou  call- 
this  a  fast,  and  an  acceptable  day  to  Jehovah?  Is  not 
this  the  fast  that  I  have  chosen :  to  loose  the  bonds  of 
wickedness,  to  undo  the  bands  of  the  yoke,  and  to  let 
the  oppressed  go  free,  and  that  ye  break  every  yoke? 
Is  it  not  to  deal  thy  bread  to  the  hungry,  and  that  thou 
bring  the  poor  that  are  cast  out  to  thy  house?  when 
thou  seest  the  naked,  that  thou  cover  him ;  and  that  thou 
hide  not  thyself  from  thine  own  flesh?  Then  shall  thy 
light  break  forth  as  the  morning,  and  thy  healing  shall 
spring  forth  speedily;  and  thy  righteousness  shall  go 
before  thee ;  the  glory  of  Jehovah  shall  be  thy  rearward. 
Then  shalt  thou  call,  and  Jehovah  will  answer ;  thou 
shalt  cry,  and  he  will  say.  Here  I  am. — Isa.  58 :  3-9. 

Has  the  voice 'of  true   religion  ever  sounded  more  resonant 
and  appealing? 

"Life,"  says  one,  "will  always  be  a  strenuous  and  breath- 
less game,  playing  tag  among  the  teeth  of  Death."  But  the 
man  who  loses  to  another  man  the  chance  to  win  the  game 
doesn't  need  to  think  he  can  bribe  God  by  contributing  to 
both  sides  of  a  duplex  church  envelope. 

Twentieth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

c.  Hostility  tozvard  the  Gentiles. 

We  have  noticed  an  attitude  of  harshness  and  hatred  toward 
foreigners.  If  these  are  not  to  be  destroyed,  they  are  to  be 
enslaved. 

Thy  gates  also  shall  be  open  continually;  they  shall 
404 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XX-4] 

not  be  shut  day  nor  night ;  that  men  may  bring  unto  thee 
the  wealth  of  the  nations,  and  their  kings  led  captive. 
For  that  nation  and  kingdom  that  will  not  serve  thee 
shall  perish ;  yea,  those  nations  shall  be  utterly  wasted. 
.  .  .  And  the  sons  of  them  that  afiflicted  thee  shall  come 
bending  unto  thee ;  and  all  they  that  despised  thee  shall 
bow  themselves  down  at  the  soles  of  thy  feet. — Isa. 
60:  II,  12,  14.     Cf.  61  :  5ff. 

But  the  books  of  Ruth  and  of  Jonah  have  taught  us  that  side 
by  side  with  intolerant  men  there  were  other  men  in  Jeru- 
salem, who  lived  in  a  world  of  universal  comradeship  and 
love. 

d.  The  Generous  Welcome  of  the  Gentiles. 

Mark  such  words  as  these : 

Also  the  foreigners  that  join  themselves  to  Jehovah, 
to  minister  unto  him,  and  to  love  the  name  of  Jehovah, 
to  be  his  servants,  every  one  that  keepeth  the  sabbath 
from  profaning  it,  and  holdeth  fast  my  covenant;  even 
them  will  I  bring  to  my  holy  mountain,  and  make 
them  joyful  in  my  house  of  prayer:  their  burnt-offer- 
ings and  their  sacrifices  shall  be  accepted  upon  mine 
altar;  for  my  house  shall  be  called  a  house  of  prayer 
for  all  peoples.  The  Lord  Jehovah,  who  gathereth  the 
outcasts  of  Israel,  saith,  Yet  will  I  gather  others  to  him, 
besides  his  own  that  are  gathered. — Isa.  56:6-8. 

Have  we,  with  our  notorious  condescension  toward  "inferior" 
races,  with  our  contempt  for  men  of  t)ther  colors  and  races, 
even  "glimpsed"  the  mountain  peak  of  religion  upon  which 
stood  the  prophet  who  wrote  those  words? 

Mark,  too,  another  "unrelated  and  undated  prophecy,"  pre- 
sumably from  this  same  period  : 

In  that  day  shall  there  be  a  highway  out  of  Egypt  to 
Assyria,  and  the  Assyrian  shall  come  into  Egypt,  and 
the  Egyptian  into  Assyria  ;  and  the  Egyptians  shall  wor- 
ship with  the  Assyrians. 

In  that  day  shall  Israel  be  the  third  with  Egypt  and 
with  Assyria,  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  earth  ;  for 
that  Jehovah  of  hosts  hath  blessed  them,  saying,  Blessed 

405 


[XX-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

be  Egypt  my  people,  and  Assyria  the  work  of  my  hands, 
and  Israel  mine  inheritance. — Isa.  19:23-25, 

Assyria,  land  of  blood  and  brutality,  Egypt,  land  of  subtlety 
and  fraud — what  has  Israel  to  do  with  either  of  them?  Israel 
has  been  the  victim  of  both,  ground  by  them  as  wheat  be- 
tween the  upper  and  the  nether  millstones.  But  our  prophet 
thinks  of  a  highway  along  which  Assyrian  and  Egyptian  shall 
walk,  each  to  the  other's  land,  thinks  of  Israel  as  joining  with 
them  ni  glad,  fraternal  worship,  with  them  blessed  by  the 
common  God  of  all,  Jehovah.  Israel's  ancient  God,  Jehovah, 
calls  Egypt  "my  people,"  Assyria  "the  work  of  my  hands," 
Israel  herself  has  no  desire  now  to  be  the  slave-driver  or  the 
destroyer  of  the  "heathen,"  is  modestly  proud  to  be  counted  a 
third  with  Egypt  and  Assyria.  So  the  Christian  Belgian  might 
think  of  his  future  relations  with  Germany.  So  the  Christian 
Korean  might  dream,  as  he  does  dream,  of  a  day  when  China 
which  has  despised  him  and  Japan  which  has  denationalized 
him  may  join  with  him  in  a  truly  "holy  triple  alliance,"  in 
the  worship  and  the  work  of  his  God,  the  God  of  the  Jesus 
doctrine.  Some  men  are  optimists  because  they  are  somnam- 
bulists ;  some  men  "see  life"  and  become  pessimists.  This 
prophet  saw  all  and  was  not  afraid,  because  he  trusted  God. 

In  the  days  which  looked  dark  indeed  to  the  lovers  of 
Jehovah,  there  were  men  v/ho  saw  the  whole  wide  world 
held  in  the  everlasting  arms,  and  the  whole  earth  full  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea  (see  Isa, 
11:9,  Hab.  2:14  et  al). 

Twentieth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

e.  The  Happy  City. 

In  this  connection,  we  have  noticed  a  growing  tendency  to 
paint  in  fairest  colors  the  City  Beautiful  that  is  to  be. 

It  was  said  of  an  English  preacher,  "He  had  a  great  eye 
for  the  sunrise."  The  prophets  of  the  Persian  era,  living  in 
the  midst  of  utter  disillusionment,  walked  abroad,  their  faces 
radiant  with  the  glory  of  the  morrow.     One  is  reminded  of 

406 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XX-5] 

the  words  of  Browning's  Pompilia,  victim  of  all  manner  of 
shame  and  sorrow : 

"And  still,  as  the  day  wore,  the  trouble  grew, 
Whereby  I  guessed  there  would  be  born  a  star." 

Now  the  picture  is  that  of  the  transfigured  temple :  "The 
glory  of  Lebanon  shall  come  unto  thee,  the  fir-tree,  the  pine, 
and  the  box-tree  together,  to  beautify  the  place  of  my  sanc- 
tuary; and  I  will  make  the  place  of  my  feet  glorious"  (Isa. 
60:  13).  Again  the  inspired  artists  paint  for  us  the  common 
city  life.  The  stern  experiences  of  Jerusalem  had  oflFered 
little  chance  for  the  aged  and  for  the  little  ones,  but  their 
blessed  chance  will  come.  "There  shall  be  no  more  thence 
an  infant  of  days,  nor  an  old  man  that  hath  not  fifled  his 
days;  for  the  child  shall  die  a  hundred  years  old"  (Isa.  65: 
20).  In  that  day,  "The  inhabitant  shall  not  say,  I  am  sick" 
(Isa.  33:24).  In  that  day,  violence  shall  end,  injustice  shall 
be  no  longer  known ;  the  people  shall  be  all  righteous,  and 
poor  little  Jerusalem,  with  not  even  a  plentiful  water-supply 
in  time  of  siege,  shall  have  its  own  river — of  peace.  "But 
there  Jehovah  will  be  with  us  in  majesty,  a  place  of  broad 
rivers  and  streams,  wherein  shall  go  no  galley  with  oars, 
neither  shall  gallant  ship  pass  thereby"  (Isa.  33:21).  Nature 
herself  shall  lose  her  harshness.  "Instead  of  the  thorn  shall 
come  up  the  fir-tree,  and  instead  of  the  brier  shall  come  up 
the  myrtle-tree"  (Isa.  55:13). 

Pictures?  Yes.  Visions,  rather,  which  thrill  us  with  the 
hopes  which  make  us  men.  A  nation  without  longing,  with- 
out hope,  is  lost.  After  the  days  of  Deborah  there  were  few 
woman  poets  in  Israel.  Two  of  our  own  most  worthful 
hymns  of  patriotism  have  been  written  by  women.  We  have 
already  glanced  at  one  of  these,  with  its  social  hope.  Listen 
to  these  words  from  the  second: 

"O  beautiful  for  patriot  dream 
That  sees  beyond  the  years 
Thine  alabaster  cities  gleam, 
Undimmed  by  human  tears  I 

407 


[XX-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

America !    America ! 

God  shed  His  grace  on  thee, 
And  crown  thy  good  with  brotherhood, 

From  sea  to  shining  sea." 

Is  that  patriot  dream  a  false  and  foolish  dream?  The  visions 
of  the  patriot-prophets  of  Jerusalem  have  never  found  ma- 
terial embodiment. 

"God's  gift  was  that  man  should  conceive  of  truth 
And  yearn  to  gain  it,  catching  at  mistake. 
As  midway  help  till  he  reach  fact  indeed." 

The  visions  which  they  cherished  led  them  on  to  the  more 
glorious  fact  that  shall  be.  Through  their  dreams,  if  you 
will  have  it  so,  God  was  teaching  his  friends  to  look  ever 
more  and  more  beyond  the  emerald  walls  of  the  transfigured 
city,  to  the  transfigured  world  in  which  the  will  of  God 
shall  be  done  as  it  is  done  in  heaven. 

Do  you  recall  the  words  of  Thoreau?  "If  you  have  built 
castles  in  the  air,  your  work  need  not  be  wasted.  That  is 
where  they  should  be.  Now  put  the  foundations  under  them." 
It  was  God  who  let  down  before  the  prophet's  eyes  the  vision 
of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  then  the  vision  of  "the  holy 
earth,"  and  it  has  been  the  task  of  prophetic  men  and  women 
ever  since  to  build  the  foundations  of  loyalty  and  love.  At 
last,  the  rising  foundations  shall  meet  the  vision  realized. 

Twentieth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

f.  The  Coming  King. 

In  many  of  the  "hope"  passages  usually  assigned  to  our 
period,  there  is  no  mention  of  a  heaven-appointed  king. 
Rather,  "Jehovah  is*  our  judge,  Jehovah  is  our  lawgiver,  Jeho- 
vah is  our  king"  (Isa.  2,Z-  ^^)-  But  we  have  seen  that  Ezekiel 
thought  of  God's  shepherdhood  as  mediated  by  his  "servant 
David"  (p.  344).  In  prophecies  now  found  in  Jer.  30  and 
:i2>  we  have  glimpses  of  the  ruler  of  the  people  "who  shall 
proceed  from  themselves,  a  Branch  of  righteousness  to  grow 

408 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XX-6] 

up  unto  David."  We  observed  that  Haggai  and  Zechariah 
apparently  thought  of  their  leader  Zerubbabel  as  a  possible 
"Messiah,"  king  or  anointed  one   (p.  354ff.)- 

Read  Isa.  9:1-7,  11:10,  noting  characteristics  of  the  hoped- 
for  king,  and  results  of  his  reign. 

In  two  wonderful  passages,  included  in  our  present  book 
of  Isaiah  (Isa.  9:1-7;  11 :  1-5),  and  almost  certainly  known  if 
not  written  in  our  period,  the  coming  king  is  characterized, 
(i)  Those  who  have  walked  in  darkness  shall  see  a  great 
light;  joy  shall  rise  out  of  sorrow,  for  the  leaderless  people 
shall  at  last  have  a  ruler,  who  shall  be  called  "Wonderful 
Counsellor,  Godlike  Hero,  Ever-Watchful  Father,  Prince  of 
Peace. "'^  (2)  Endowed  with  Jehovah's  spirit,  the  heaven- 
designated  king,  a  shoot  out  of  the  stump  of  Jesse,  shall 
achieve  with  his  word  of  truth  and  equity  what  other  con- 
querors have  wrought  by  the  sword. 

Again,  in  a  prophecy  bound  up  with  that  of  Micah,  we  read 
of  the  Anointed  One,  of  ancient  pedigree,  who  comes  from 
the  old  home  of  David  and  who  feeds  his  flock  in  the  strength 
of  Jehovah  and  wins  world-wide  renown. 

But  thou,  Beth-lehem  Ephrathah,  which  art  little  to  be 
among  the  thousands  of  Judah,  out  of  thee  shall  one 
come  forth  unto  me  that  is  to  be  ruler  in  Israel ;  whose 
goings  forth  are  from  old,  from  everlasting.  There- 
fore will  he  give  them  up,  until  the  time  that  she  who 
travaileth  hath  brought  forth :  then  the  residue  of  his 
brethren  shall  return  unto  the  children  of  Israel.  And 
he  shall  stand,  and  shall  feed  his  flock  in  the  strength  of 
Jehovah,  in  the  majesty  of  the  name  of  Jehovah  his 
God :  and  they  shall  abide ;  for  now  shall  he  be  great 
unto  the  ends  of  the  earth. — Micah  5 :  2-4. 

Would  those  who  thus  cherished  the  Messianic  hope  have 
recognized  their  Messiah  in  our  Master?  Would  they  have 
said,  with  Simeon,  on  seeing  the  infant  Jesus,  "Now  lettest 
thou    thy    servant   depart.    Lord,    according   to   thy   word,    in 


13  Translation  by  Kent. 

409 


[XX-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

peace"?  Would  they  have  seen  in  Jesus  their  comrade- 
saviour,  the  shepherd  of  his  people,  the  peace-loving,  peace- 
making king?  Probably  not.  Dow^n  to  the  end  of  the  Persian 
Period,  the  hope  of  the  Messiah  was  usually  political  rather 
than  religious.  The  king  is  to  administer  with  Jehovah's 
justice  and  mercy  the  affairs  of  his  people  in  his  widening 
earthly  empire. 

Not  because  he  fulfils  detailed  specific  predictions,  but 
because  he  fills  full  the  dreams  and  hopes,  the  aspirations  and 
ideals  of  kingly  men  who  through  the  ages  have  longed  for 
a  king,  do  we  think  of  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  the  Anointed 
One  of  God.  The  disciples  of  Jesus  were  themselves  com- 
pelled to  have  long  experience  with  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  before 
the  Revelator  could  speak  of  "Jesus  Christ,  who  is  .  .  .  the 
ruler  of  the  kings  of  the  earth"  (Rev.  i :  5). 

Twentieth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

As  these  streams  of  thought  were  flowing  down  through 
the  life  of  the  Jews,  there  were  watchful  eyes  gazing  out 
upon  the  world  of  politics.  Now  they  saw  Darius,  as  he 
created  out  of  diverse  tribes  and  peoples  "the  largest  empire 
the  ancient  world  had  thus  far  seen.""  They  watched  him 
as  he  dug  again  a  canal  between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea, 
as  he  made  Persia  "the  first  great  sea  power  of  Asia."  Eager 
Jewish  eyes  scanned  that  great  inscription,  to  this  day  "the 
most  important  historical  document  surviving  in  Asia,"  in 
which  in  three  languages  Darius  attributes  his  success  to  his 
God,  Ahuramazda,  who  helped  him  "because  I  was  not  wicked, 
nor  was  I  a  liar,  nor  was  I  a  tyrant,  neither  I,  nor  any  of 
my  hne.    I  have  ruled  according  to  righteousness." 

Jewish  eyes  watched  to  see  the  meaning  of  the  gradual 
decline  of  Persia,  and  of  those  endless  marchings  of  troops 
along  the  maritime  plain.  Jewish  hearts  were  wrung  as 
Artaxerxes  Ochus  (c.  350  B.  C.)  sacked  the  temple;  as  his 
soldiers  gave  a  boy  for  a  harlot  or  sold  a  girl  for  wine  (Joel 

'*  Breasted,  "Ancient  Times,"  p.  i82fiE. 
410 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XX-7] 

Z:z,  from  section  of  prophecy  apparently  belonging  to  this 
period). 

The  men  "about  town"  in  Jerusalem  would  mark  the  in- 
creasing numbers  of  Greeks  who  now  appeared  as  slave- 
traders  buying  up  the  children  of  Jerusalem  (Joel  3:6),  who 
now  appeared  as  mercenary  troops  (Xenophon's  "Anabasis"), 
or  again,  sought  under  the  leadership  of  their  orator  Demos- 
thenes to  get  subsidies  from  Persia.  Shrewd  Jewish  mer- 
chants would  be  extending  their  enterprises  by  the  use  of 
the  swift  posts  of  the  empire.  They  would  hear  that  the 
Persians  had  introduced  the  common  barnyard  fowl  into 
Europe  from  India  ;'^  and  would  bethink  them  of  other 
Oriental  commodities,  commonplace  or  rare,  which  the  vigor- 
ous young  races  of  the  Mediterranean  might  appreciate.  All 
down  the  decades,  skepticism  was  finding  lodgment  in  the 
hearts  of  many  men,  and  frequently  with  the  skepticism  super- 
stition showed  its  toad-like  head.  Men  there  were  who 
would  sit  among  the  graves,  lodge  in  the  vaults,  eat  swine's 
flesh  and  broth  of  abominable  things;  men  who,  after  cen- 
turies of  the  teaching  of  monotheism,  would  still  sacrifice  in 
gardens  and  burn  incense  upon  bricks  to  the  gods  or  demons 
(Isa.  65:3-5,  7). 

But  all  down  the  decades  as  well,  men  and  women  loved 
each  other,  reared  their  families  in  decency,  worked  hard  to 
get  a  living  from  their  vineyards  and  olive-yards,  talked  about 
the  weather  and  the  crops,  lived  bravely,  went  to  the  syna- 
gogue of  a  Sabbath,  attended  the  feasts  of  the  year,  sang 
from  the  growing  collection  of  "the  Psalms  of  David,"  and 
were  ever  haunted  by  the  great  hope : 

And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  latter  days,  that  the 
mountain  of  Jehovah's  house  shall  be  established  on  the 
top  of  the  mountains,  and  shall  be  exalted  above  the 
hills ;  and  all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it.  And  many 
peoples  shall  go  and  say.  Come  ye,  and  let  us  go  up  to 
the  mountain  of  Jehovah,  to  the  house  of  the  God  of 
Jacob;  and  he  will  teach  us  of  his  ways,  and  we  will 


16  Breasted,  "Ancient  Times,"  p.  i88. 
411 


fXX-q]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

walk  in  his  paths :  for  out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the 
law,  and  the  word  of  Jehovah  from  Jerusalem.  And 
he  will  judge  between  the  nations,  and  will  decide  con- 
cerning many  peoples ;  and  they  shall  beat  their  swords 
into  plowshares,  and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks ; 
nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither 
shall  they  learn  war  any  more. — Isa.  2:2-4  {cf.  Micah 
4:  1-3). 

It  has  been  said  of  us  Americans  that  we  are  all  prospecting 
for  the  Garden  of  Eden.  Perhaps  we  caught  the  habit  from 
the  Jews ;  and  perhaps  we  are  more  likely  to  discover  the 
Garden  than  the  man  who  sits  on  his  own  orchard  wall  and 
laughs  at  the  prospectors  as  they  pass. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  Would  you  expect  an  ethical  and  religious  sag  to  follow 
a  great  and  idealistic  enterprise,  like  the  return  to  Jerusalem, 
or  like  America's  participation  in  the  Great  War?  Why  or 
why  not? 

2.  Did  Zechariah  have  any  grounds  (aside  from  direct  reve- 
lation) for  believing  that  the  Gentiles  would  ever  turn  to 
Jehovah? 

3  Compare  and  contrast  the  religious  conditions  of  Jeru- 
salem in  Malachi's  day  and  in  Haggai's  day. 

4.  Would  you  be  assured  that  abundant  blessing  would 
follow  the  loyal  performance  of  the  church  service,  and  the 
obedience  to  the  law  of  the  tithes? 

5.  Was  it  wise,  or  otherwise,  for  the  Jews  of  Ezra's  day 
to  divorce  their  foreign  wives  in  the  interest  of  purity  of  race? 

6.  Discuss  the  permanent  value  of  the  work  of  laymen,  as 
illustrated  by  Nehemiah  and  the  development  of  the  syna- 
gogue. 

7.  State  the  problems  and  probable  purposes  of  the  books 
of  Ruth,  Jonah,  Job. 

8.  Would  you  get  much  comfort  in  sorrow  from  the  vision 
of  the  wild  creatures  of  the  world? 

412 


THE  RESTORED  CITY  [XX-q] 

9.  Would  you  regard  public  prayer  as  a  means  of  combating 
locusts  and  drought? 

10.  Compare  and  contrast  the  ideal  Coming  King  of  the 
prophets  with  the  Master  whom  we  call  our  King. 

11.  A  writer,  K.  Fullerton,  has  stated  these  to  be  the  ideals 
of  the  prophets:  social  justice,  the  regenerate  heart,  the  sub- 
duing power  of  sacrificial  suffering,  the  peace  of  the  world 
based  upon  righteousness.  Do  you  personally  discover  these 
ideals  in  the  prophecies  studied  in  this  and  the  preceding 
chapters .'' 


413 


CHAPTER  XII 

Voices  of  Judaism  in  the  Greek  Period 
(332-168  B.  C.) 

Introductory 
Twenty-first  Week,  First  Day. 

The  Jewish  people,  with  all  their  intellectual  and  spiritual 
assets,  with  all  their  aspirations  for  world  conquest  or  world 
service,  were  a  subject  people  throughout  most  of  their  na- 
tional career.  They  had  known  the  overlordship  of  three 
of  the  mightiest  empires  of  the  world,  Assyria,  Babylonia, 
Persia.    They  were  now  to  find  new  masters  in  the  West. 

The  age  of  Pericles  had  passed,  but  the  glories  of  the 
Acropolis  remained.  Socrates  had  drunk  the  hemlock,  but 
Plato  had  made  his  master  minister  to  the  world  of  thought. 
Euripides  had  dragged  the  ancient  deities  of  Greece  from 
their  thrones  in  the  minds  of  thoughtful  men.  Thucydides, 
"the  first  scientific  writer  of  history,"  had  completed  his  work. 
Greek  culture,  with  its  art  and  architecture,  its  music,  its 
philosophy,  its  science,  fascinated  Philip  of  Macedon.  The 
great  soldier  mastered  Greece,  but  humbly  served  her.  He 
heard  the  call  to  the  conquest  of  Persia,  but  "was  stabbed  by 
conspirators  during  the  revelries  at  the  wedding  of  his  daugh- 
ter, 336  B.  C."  Alexander,  a  lad  of  twenty,  came  to  the  throne. 
"The  passage  of  the  Granicus  rendered  Alexander  master  of 
the  Greek  colonies,  the  battles  of  Issus  (333  B.  C.)  gave  him 
Tyre  and  Egypt,  the  battle  of  Arbela  (331  B.  C.)  gave  him 
the    whole   earth.'"     Alexander    while    in    Egypt    entered    the 


'  Montesquieu,  quoted  by  G,  A,  Smith,  "Jerusalem,"  vol.  II,  p.  372. 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD     [XXI-i] 

ancient  temple  of  Amon,  and  came   forth   from  that  temple 
a  god,  a  son  of  Zeus-Amon." 

As  a  god  he  demanded  the  obeisance  of  his  old-time  com- 
rades, and  the  recognition  of  his  deity  by  his  subject  states. 
He  proved  a  better  statesman  than  god.  While  adopting  many 
Oriental  customs,  he  introduced  into  Asia  the  coinage  and 
commercial  methods  of  Greece  and  the  artistic,  scientific,  and 
philosophic  zeal  of  Athens,  the  mother  of  culture.  The  spirit 
of  Greece  entered  Asia  with  the  conqueror,  the  spirit  of  intel- 
lectual freedom,  the  spirit  of  eager  inquiry,  the  spirit  of  love 
for  the  present  life. 

"How  good  is  man's  life,  the  mere  living  1  how  fit  to 

employ 
All  the  heart  and  the  soul  and  the  senses  for  ever  in 
joy!" 

Alexander  the  Great,  the  soldier,  the  statesman,  the  god, 
died  in  323  B.  C.,  "probably  in  a  drunken  debauch."  His  con- 
quests had  carried  him  as  far  as  India,  his  influence  spread 
even  farther.  His  thirteen  years  of  rule  transformed  western 
Asia  and  the  whole  Mediterranean  world.  Greek  cities 
sprang  up  everywhere,  some  almost  within  sight  of  Jerusalem 
— cities  with  their  temples,  their  libraries,  their  theaters,  gym- 
nasia, and  racetracks.  Greek  became  the  language  of  gov- 
ernment and  of  commerce.  Old  things  passed  away;  behold, 
they  became  new. 

Ptolemy  I,  a  capable  commander  in  Alexander's  army,  be- 
came lord  of  Egypt;  in  321  B.  C.  he  is  said  to  have  carried 
some  thousands  of  Jews  into  an  easy  exile.  From  that  time 
on  till  198  B.  C.,  Jerusalem  was  usually  under  the  rule  of  the 
Ptolemies. 

In  the  olden  times,  exile  had  been  as  the  grave  to  the  reli- 
gious Jew.  In  the  Greek  period,  important  Jewish  colonies 
were  found  in  all  great  cities.  Skilful  in  business  and  politics, 
the  Jews  rapidly  rose  to  places  of  prominence  in  the  lands  of 
their  voluntary  or  involuntary  exile.     They  learned  the  Greek 

2  Breasted,  "Ancient  Times,"  p.  439ff- 
415 


[XXI-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

language  and  the  Greek  fashions  of  thought.  They  still  re- 
membered their  mother,  dear  Jerusalem,  they  still  prayed  with 
windows  opened  toward  Jerusalem,  still  sent  their  gifts  to  the 
temple  of  the  holy  city,  and  they  died  with  their  last  thoughts 
of  Jerusalem.  They  would  have  understood  the  word  of 
Rupert  Brooke: 

"If  I  should  die,  think  only  this  of  me: 
That  there's  some  corner  of  a  foreign  field 
That  is  for  ever  England." 

Many  of  these  Jews  of  "the  Diaspora,"  or  the  Dispersion, 
sought  to  harmonize  their  faith  with  the  philosophy  of  Greece. 
By  250  B.  C.,  the  Law  had  been  translated  into  the  Greek.  The 
ethical  purity  and  lofty  monotheism  of  the  Jewish  faith  pro- 
foundly influenced  many  Gentile  minds.  During  the  greater 
part  of  the  Greek  period,  Jerusalem  was  "a  compact  and  pros- 
perous" city.  The  territory  which  it  dominated  "was  not 
thirty  miles  north  and  south,  and  little  more  than  twenty  east 
and  west."  With  every  pilgrim  coming  from  the  outer  world 
came  new  thoughts,  news  of  strange  disorganizing  philoso- 
phies, news,  too,  of  a  "free  and  exhilarating"  life,  remote 
from  the  rather  somber  world  of  Jewish  thought. 

The  temple  was  still  the  center  of  the  life  of  Jerusalem,  and 
religion  was  the  chief  interest  of  the  city.  Hecateus,  the  first 
Greek  "to  have  any  real  information  about  Jerusalem,"  writes, 
near  the  year  300  B.  C. : 

"The  Jews  have  never  had  a  king,  but  committed  the  presi- 
dency of  the  people  throughout  to  that  one  of  the  priests  who 
was  reputed  to  excel  in  wisdom  and  virtue;  him  they  call 
Chief  Priest,  and  consider  to  be  the  messenger  to  them  of  the 
commands  of  God."^ 

In  our  present  chapter  we  shall  have  occasion  to  mark  again 
some  of  the  emphases  of  prophecy,  which  were  to  persist 
through  the  centuries  down  to  the  birth  of  Christ.  We  shall 
glance  at  the  book  of.  Esther,  with  its  message  of  courage 
and  unconquerable  nationalism.     We  shall  then  trace  two  in- 

•  G.  A.  Smith,  "Jerusalem,"  vol.  I,  p.  389. 
416 


JUDAISM  m  THE  GREEK  PERIOD     [XXI-2] 

teresting  lines  of  thought  pursued  by  "the  Wise";  and  shall 
stop  for  a  moment  to  hear  the  music  of  the  Song  of  Songs. 

Twenty-first  Week,  Second  Day, 

I .    Voices  of  Prophecy 

a.  The  Coming  King. 

The  new  era  did  not  kill  the  old  hopes.  In  Zech.  9  we  have 
an  undated  prophecy,  which  may  belong  to  the  days  when 
Alexander,  after  beating  the  Persians  at  Issus,  was  making 
his  swift  progress  toward  Egypt.  The  collapse  of  old  empires 
and  the  rise  of  new  empires  had  always  stirred  to  vivid  flame 
the  spirit  of  prophecy;  and  we  see  it  now  again  burning 
brightly : 

Rejoice  greatly,  O  daughter  of  Zion ;  shout,  O  daugh- 
ter of  Jerusalem:  behold,  thy  king  cometh  unto  thee; 
he  is  just,  and  having  salvation;  lowly,  and  riding  upon 
an  ass,  even  upon  a  colt  the  foal  of  an  ass.  And  I  will 
cut  off  the  chariot  from  Ephraim,  and  the  horse  from 
Jerusalem ;  and  the  battle  bow  shall  be  cut  off ;  and 
he  shall  speak  peace  unto  the  nations :  and  his  dominion 
shall  be  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  River  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth. — Zech.  9 :  9,   10. 

The  prophecy  recalls  earlier  descriptions  of  the  Messianic 
King  and  of  the  Servant  of  Jehovah  as  well.  He  is  "vindi- 
cated" and  the  recipient  of  salvation ;  he  is  peace-loving  and 
lowly.  His  wide  reign  shall  mean  peace  to  the  nations.  What 
new  and  wondrous  meaning  we  now  read  into  the  old  message 
as  we  think  of  Jesus,  at  once  the  Sovereign  and  the  Servant, 
who  wins  his  right  to  world  sovereignty  by  his  world  service, 
who  uses  the  mightiest  of  all  weapons,  grace  and  truth,  who 
speaks  peace  to  the  nations. 

b.  The  Triumph  of  Ritual  Holiness. 

Sometimes  the  prophetic  hope  looked  forward  to  the  triumph 
of  ritual  holiness  in  the  world. 

417 


[XXI-2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

In  a  passage  written  possibly  quite  late  in  the  Greek  period, 
we  have  these  words : 

And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  every  one  that  is  left 
of  all  the  nations  that  came  against  Jerusalem  shall 
go  up  from  year  to  year  to  worship  the  King,  Jehovah 
of  hosts,  and  to  keep  the  feast  of  tabernacles.  And  it 
shall  be,  that  whoso  of  ail  the  families  of  the  earth 
goeth  not  up  unto  Jerusalem  to  worship  the  King,  Jeho- 
vah of  hosts,  upon  them,  there  shall  be  no  rain.  And 
if  the  family  of  Egypt  go  not  up,  and  come  not,  neither 
shall  it  be  upon  them ;  there  shall  be  the  plague  where- 
with Jehovah  will  smite  the  nations  that  go  not  up  to 
keep  the  feast  of  tabernacles.  This  shall  be  the  punish- 
ment of  Egypt,  and  the  punishment  of  all  the  nations 
that  go  not  up  to  keep  the  feast  of  tabernacles.  In 
that  dav  shall  there  be  upon  the  bells  of  the  horses, 
HOLY  UNTO  JEHOVAH;  and  the  pots  in  Jehovah's 
house  shall  be  like  the  bowls  before  the  altar.  Yea, 
every  pot  in  Jerusalem  and  in  Judah  shall  be  holy 
unto  Jehovah  of  hosts;  and  all  they  that  sacrifice  shall 
come  and  take  of  them,  and  boil  therein  :  and  in  that 
day  there  shall  be  no  more  a  Canaanite  in  the  house  of 
Jehovah  of  hosts. — Zech.  14:  16-21. 


To  the  writer  the  fairest  vision  of  the  future,  his  Utopia, 
is  a  city  to  which  the  remnant  of  the  nations  shall  come  to 
worship  the  king,  Jehovah,  and  to  celebrate  the  feast  of 
tabernacles ;  a  city  so  completely  holy  that  the  common  pots 
shall  be  entirely  suitable  for  the  use  of  the  vast  multitudes 
of  devotees;  a  city  in  which  the  very  horses  of  the  pilgrims, 
hitherto  abhorred  as  the  symbols  of  pomp  and  war,  shall 
be  dedicated  to  Jehovah,  their  tinkling  ornaments  inscribed, 
"Holy  unto  Jehovah."  A  strange  and  external  conception  of 
the  Golden  Year!  And  yet,  consider:  "Civilization  to  the 
Jew  was  not  progress  except  in  so  far  as  it  was  theocentric 
(God-centered)  civilization."  It  was  almost  impossible  for  a 
Jerusalemite  to  separate  the  thought  of  a  God-centered  civili- 
zation from  ihe  thought  of  a  temple-centered  civilization. 
The  day  would  come  v/hen  a  man  could  write  about  "a  city 
without  a  church"— "I  saw  no  temple  therein:   for  the  Lord 

418 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD     [XXI-3] 

God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  thereof" — but  the 
man  who  wrote  that  had  known  "the  light  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  was 
himself  deeply  indebted  to  the  great  churchman,  Ezekiel. 

Twenty-Brst  Week,  Third  Day. 

c.  The  Doom  of  tlie  Gentiles. 

Did  the  old  intolerant  attitude  toward  other  nations  persist 
in  the  new  atmosphere  of  Greek  thought?  Yes.  In  Zech.  14 
we  have,  as  in  earlier  prophets,  the  heathen  nations  gathering 
to  war  against  the  holy  city,  and  now  the  city  itself  is  taken, 
the  houses  rifled,  and  half  the  city  carried  into  captivity. 
Then  the  prophet  sees  Jehovah  himself  come  forth  to  fight 
against  the  nations,  and  to  save  his  people.  Then  at  last  shall 
Jehovah  indeed  be  king  over  all  the  earth  (14:  1-9).  The 
words  do  not  sound  very  much  like  the  words  of  Jesus :  "Come 
unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest."  But  harsh  and  vindictive  as  they  seem,  the  words 
have  in  them  a  ring  of  victorious  trust  in  Jehovah  the  king 
of  all  the  earth,  which  makes  us  forget  their  bitterness.  And 
we  may  well  ask  this  question :  How  could  the  little  territory 
of  Judah,  with  its  area  of  twenty  by  thirty  miles,  with  its 
handful  of  people,  save  itself  to  its  ultimate  world  mission, 
save  itself  from  the  full  sweep  of  the  sea  of  Greek  culture, 
Greek  worldliness,  Greek  "heathenism"?  President  Wilson 
has  said :  "We  do  not  want  anything  for  ourselves  that  we 
do  not  want  for  every  other  nation  of  the  world."  There 
speaks  the  voice  of  a  great,  free,  powerful  people.  Voices 
speaking  of  world  comradeship  and  world  mission  were  heard 
in  Jerusalem,  but  the  customary  insistence  on  Jewish  cere- 
mony, the  fierceness  of  Jewish  intolerance,  were  as  the  dikes 
of  tiny  Holland  holding  back  the  tides  of  the  Atlantic.  And 
if  there  were  few  voices  of  wider  love  to  be  heard  in  Judaism, 
it  is  certain  that  there  were  fewer  still  in  the  Gentile  world. 
Christ  had  to  come  before  a  Gentile  could  write  of  a  bigot, 
words  like  these : 

419 


[XXI-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

"He  drew  a  circle  that  shut  me  out — 
Heretic,  rebel,  a  thing  to  flout. 
But  love  and  I  had  the  wit  to  win ; 
We  drew  a  circle  that  took  him  in." 

2.    Esther,  the  Voice  of  Jewish  Nationalism 

Read  Esther  i,  4,  6,  and  9,  noting  the  rem.arkable  portrayal 
of  the  characters  of  the  story  and  the  evidences  of  intense 
and  intolerant  nationalism.  Consider  the  contrasted  influ- 
ences playing  upon  Jewish  minds  familiar  with  the  books 
of  Jonah  and  Esther. 

Passing  from  these  emphases  of  prophecy,  we  study  the 
book  of  Esther,  which  belongs  apparently  to  the  Greek  period, 
and  further  illustrates  the  intolerance  which  characterized 
one  wing  of  the  later  Judaism,  The  intolerance  of  Esther  is 
not  aggressively  religious,  as  in  the  case  of  the  prophets.  It 
is  primarily  nationalistic. 

The  purpose  of  the  story  is  to  forward  the  observance  of 
the  late,  but  highly  regarded,  festival  of  Purim,  for  which 
there  was  no  authority  in  scriptural  legislation.* 

The  story  breathes  a  joy  in  wholesale  carnage,  a  triumph 
in  the  destruction  of  destroyers  and  the  exceptionless  applica- 
tion of  the  law  of  retaliation,  which  are  far  from  the  spirit 
of  Jesus,  and  almost  as  far  from  the  spirit  of  the  great  words 
of  Jonah  and  of  the  universalistic  prophecies. 

On  that  day  the  number  of  those  that  were  slain  in 
Shushan  the  palace  was  brought  before  the  king.  And 
the  king  said  unto  Esther  the  queen,  The  Jews  have 
slain  and  destroyed  five  hundred  men  in   Shushan  the 


*  The  word  pur  is  said  to  mean  lol,  and  the  explanation  of  the  feast  is  that  it 
commemorates  the  casting  of  the  lot  by  the  wicked  Haman  to  discover  the 
favorable  day  for  the  presentation  or  the  execution  of  his  plan  to  kill  all  the 
Jews.  "The  feast  is  an  annual  merry-making  of  a  wholly  secular  character." 
To  this  day  the  feast  is  observed,  in  part,  by  the  reading  of  Esther,  and  by  the 
heaping  of  curses  upon  the  heads  of  Haman  and  his  more  modern  representa- 
tives. "Purim  is  a  Persian  spring  festival,  marked  by  ceremonies  symbolical 
of  the  reappearance  of  the  sun  of  springtide,  which  was  adopted  by  the  Jews. 
.  .  .  The  chief  characters  in  the  book  of  Esther,  Mordecai  and  Esther,  are 
purely  fictitious,  the  names  being  adaptations  of  the  Babylonian  deities, 
Marduk  and  Ishtar." — Jastrow,  "Hebrew  and  Babylonian  Traditions,"  p.  161. 

420 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD     [XXI-3] 

palace,  and  the  ten  sons  of  Haman ;  what  then  have 
they  done  in  the  rest  of  the  king's  provinces !  Now 
what  is  thy  petition?  and  it  shall  be  granted  thee:  or 
what  is  thy  request  further  ?  and  it  shall  be  done.  Then 
said  Esther,  If  it  please  the  king,  let  it  be  granted  to  the 
Jews  that  are  in  Shushan  to  do  to-morrow  also  accord- 
ing unto  this  day's  decree,  and  let  Hainan's  ten  sons 
be  hanged  upon  the  gallows.  And  the  king  commanded 
it  so  to  be  done :  and  a  decree  was  given  out  in  Shu- 
shan ;  and  they  hanged  Haman's  ten  sons.  And  the 
Jews  that  were  in  Shushan  gathered  themselves  together 
on  the  fourteenth  day  also  of  the  month  Adar,  and  slew 
three  hundred  men  in  Shushan ;  but  on  the  spoil  they 
laid  not  their  hand.  And  the  other  Jews  that  were  in 
the  king's  provinces  gathered  themselves  together,  and 
stood  for  their  lives,  and  had  rest  from  their  enemies, 
and  slew  of  them  that  hated  them  seventy  and  five 
thousand;  but  on  the  spoil  they  laid  not  their  hand. — 
Esthe--  9:  1 1 -16. 

The  book  does  not  mention  the  name  of  God,  and  the 
vengeance  wreaked  upon  the  enemies  of  the  Jews  is  wrought 
entirely  by  the  hands  of  men.  The  prophets  always  hear, 
above  the  noise  of  earthly  foes  and  avengers,  the  solemn 
march  of  God  and  the  solemn  word  of  God,  "Vengeance  is 
mine,  I  will  repay,  saith  the  Lord." 

In  estimating  the  book  of  Esther,  we  must  recall  the  con- 
summate brutality  of  the  relations  between  political  groups 
in  the  period  of  our  study.  Thus,  a  little  more  than  a  century 
perhaps  before  the  book  of  Esther  was  written,  these  same 
cultured  Greeks  of  whom  we  have  spoken — the  Athenians — 
sought  to  enslave  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  of  Melos,  and 
used  this  argument:  "The  powerful  exact  what  they  can,  and 
the  weak  grant  what  they  must."  The  Meleans  refused  to 
own  the  lordship  of  the  Athenians.  "  'The  Athenians,'  Thucy- 
dides  quietly  says,  'thereupon  put  to  death  all  who  were  of 
military  age  and  made  slaves  of  the  women  and  children. 
They  then  colonized  the  island,  sending  thither  five  hundred 
settlers  of  their  own.' "  William  James,  from  whom  we  have 
quoted,  adds :  "Alexander's  career  was  piracy  pure  and  simple, 
nothing  but  an  orgy  of  power  and  plunder,  made  romantic  by 

421 


[XXI-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

the  character  of  the  hero.  .  .  .  The  cruelty  of  those  times  is 
incredible."  We  are  not  to  marvel  at  the  vengefulness  of 
Esther.  The  marvel  is  the  magnanimity  of  the  spirit  which 
dwelt  in  the  great  prophets.  It  happens  that  our  book  found 
its  way  only  with  difficulty  into  the  Canon. 

Vashti,  the  modest  queen,  is  perhaps  the  finest  character  in 
the  story.  The  youthful  Esther,  who  holds  her  happiness  and 
her  life  of  no  account  as  dear  unto  herself,  if  she  can  save 
her  people,  is  a  picture  very  finely  drawn. 

Then  Mordecai  bade  them  return  answer  unto  Esther, 
Think  not  with  thyself  that  thou  shalt  escape  in  the 
king's  house,  more  than  all  the  Jews.  For  if  thou  alto- 
gether boldest  thy  peace  at  this  time,  then  will  relief 
and  deliverance  arise  to  the  Jews  from  another  place, 
but  thou  and  thy  father's  house  will  perish :  and  who 
knoweth  whether  thou  art  not  come  to  the  kingdom  for 
such  a  time  as  this  ?  Then  Esther  bade  them  return 
answer  unto  Mordecai,  Go,  gather  together  all  the 
Jews  that  are  present  in  Shushan,  and  fast  ye  for  me, 
and  neither  eat  nor  drink  three  days,  night  or  day :  I 
also  and  my  maidens  will  fast  in  like  manner ;  and  so 
will  I  go  in  unto  the  king,  which  is  not  according  to 
the  law  :  and  if  I  perish,  I  perish.  So  Mordecai  went 
his  way,  and  did  according  to  all  that  Esther  had  com- 
manded him. — Esther  4:  13-17. 

The  sagacity,  the  silent  courage,  the  quick  audacity  of 
Mordecai  appeal  strongly  to  the  imagination.  The  book  is 
particularly  helpful  as  affording  us  a  picture  of  the  fiery 
heart  of  Jewish  nationalism  in  the  third  century  before  Christ. 
It  is  even  more  helpful  as  revealing  the  nation's  need  of 
Jesus,  and  suggesting  the  difference  Christ  has  made,  or  may 
make,  in  the  thoughts  of  men  toward  their  brother-men. 

In  working  over  our  material,  we  hear  again  and  again  the 
words  of  Jesus,  and  apprehend  more  clearly  their  meanihg: 
"Rut  blessed  are  your  eyes,  for  they  see;  and  your  ears,  for 
they  hear.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  many  prophetF 
and  righteous  men  desired  to  see  the  things  which  ye  see,  and 
saw  them  not ;  and  to  hear  the  things  which  ye  hear,  and  heard 
them  not"  (Matt.  13:16,  17). 

422 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD     [XXI-4] 

3.    "ECCLESIASTES,"  THE  VoiCE  OF  WeARY  SKEPTICISM 

Twenty-Hrst  Week,  Fourth  Day, 

A  writer  has  said:  "The  spirit  of  skepticism  was  of  far 
more  serious  moment  than  the  ritual  which  came  in  with  the 
post-exilic  age." 

In  some  hearts,  as  we  have  seen,  faith  nourished  hope — now 
hope  of  the  coming  king,  now  hope  of  the  triumph  of  ritual 
and  the  temple,  now  hope  of  the  destruction  of  all  enemies. 
In  other  hearts  doubt  was  the  mother  of  melancholy,  if  not 
despair.  The  book  of  Ecclesiastes  is  the  voice  of  one  such 
heart. 

Read  Eccl.  i  and  2.  After  you  have  read  these  chapters,  you 
can't  stop  reading  until  you  have  finished  the  book.  Ob- 
serve what  helpful  discoveries  the  writer  makes,  as  he 
walks  around  in  his  prison  of  a  world. 

"Job,"  says  one,  "is  an  untamed  eagle,  dashing  himself 
against  the  bars  of  his  cage.  The  'preacher'  looks  out  with 
lusterless  eyes  on  the  glorious  heavens,  where,  if  he  were 
free,  he  might  soar."  The  book  had  a  hard  time  to  get  into 
the  Canon.  At  the  Synod  of  Jamnia  (p.  5),  we  know  that 
the  doctors  disagreed  upon  its  canonicity.  Probably  the  great 
name  of  Solomon  alone  saved  to  us  the  book.  There  are 
numerous  evidences  that  editors  have  toned  down  the  skepti- 
cism of  the  author. 

Two  schools  of  thought  are  believed  to  have  made  their 
characteristic  additions  to  the  original  work : 

First,  the  Hokma  or  Wisdom  School,  who  introduced  into 
the  book  their  proverbs,  which  sometimes  do  not  clinch  but 
neutralize  the  argument. 

Second,  The  Pharisaic  (Chasid)  School,  who  sought  to 
make  the  very  heterodox  author  as  orthodox  as  possible. 

a.  The  Author. 

The  author   is  unknown.     He  writes   under   the  name  of 
423 


[XXI-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Solomon,  the  typical  "wise  man"  of  Israel.  He  uses  a  late 
form  of  Hebrew,  and  takes  an  attitude  toward  rulers,  tyrants, 
utterly  inconceivable  in  Solomon.  He  "wears  his  mask  easily," 
and  every  now  and  then  "the  mask  slips."  Probably  in  the 
earlier  part  of  the  Greek  period,  about  300  B.  C,  the  man 
lived  and  wrote. 

While  his  name  is  unknown  to  us,  it  is  not  hard  to  paint 
his  picture.  The  stamp  of  old  age  is  upon  many  of  his  words. 
Though  not  himself  poor,  he  shares  in  thought  the  lot  of  the 
hungry.  He  feels  bitterly  the  oppression  of  petty  rulers.  He 
is  unhappy  in  the  memories  and  experiences  of  his  home. 
He  knows  no  good  woman,  to  whom  he  may  go  for  spiritual 
refuge.  The  man  does  not  deny  God,  and  yet,  though  a 
neighbor  to  the  temple  and  its  thought,  God  is  to  him  "little 
more  than  the  course  of  nature,  irresistible,  inscrutable,  not 
to  be  loved." 

"The  Moving  Finger  writes ;  and,  having  writ, 
Moves  on :  nor  all  your  Piety  and  Wit 

Shall  lure  it  back  to  cancel  half  a  Line, 
Nor  all  your  Tears  wash  out  a  Word  of  it." 

Like  the  man  himself,  his  God  has  no  use  for  fools,  who 
indulge  in  the  mummeries  of  the  temple,  in  multitudes  of 
words,  in  dreams  of  uncertain  meaning. 

Keep  thy  foot  when  thou  goest  to  the  house  of  God; 
for  to  draw  nigh  to  hear  is  better  than  to  give  the  sacri- 
fice of  fools :  for  they  know  not  that  they  do  evil.  Be 
not  rash  with  thy  mouth,  and  let  not  thy  heart  be  hasty 
to  utter  anything  before  God ;  for  God  is  in  heaven, 
and  thou  upon  earth:  therefore  let  thy  words  be  few. 
For  a  dream  cometh  with  a  multitude  of  business,  and 
a  fool's  voice  with  a  multitude  of  words.  When  thou 
vowest  a  vow  unto  God,  defer  not  to  pay  it;  for  he 
hath  no  pleasure  in  fools:  pay  that  which  thou  vowest. 
Better  is  it  that  thou  shouldest  not  vow,  than  that  thou 
shouldest  vow  and  not  pay. — Eccl.  5:  1-5. 

The   writer  knows   not,   or   believes    not  in,   the   redemptive 

424 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD     [XXI-4] 

value  of  suffering.  He  is  like  a  man  in  a  little  oasis,  with 
water  and  dates  enough  for  immediate  use,  who  sees  the 
desert  slowly  drifting  in  upon  him  and,  feeling  sure  thai  as 
the  desert  conquers  death  will  conquer  too,  therefore  deter- 
mines to  rnake  the  most  of  the  present. 

Consider  the  work  of  God:  for  who  can  make  that 
straight,  which  he  hath  made  crooked?  In  the  day  of 
prosperity  be  joyful,  and  in  the  day  of  adversity  con- 
sider ;  yea,  God  hath  made  the  one  side  by  side  with 
the  other,  to  the  end  that  man  should  not  find  out  any- 
thing that  shall  be  after  him. — Eccl.  7 :  13,  14. 

b.  Life's  Liabilities. 

The  writer  makes  several  surveys  of  life.  He  is  impressed 
by  the  thought  that  neither  in  humanity  nor  in  nature  is 
there  any  progress.  And  yet  there  is  an  insatiable  hunger 
of  eye  and  ear.  He  experiments  with  pleasure  to  the  limit, 
and  concludes  that  this  is  vanity,  emptiness,  breath.  In  chap- 
ter after  chapter  he  assesses  life,  notes  the  helplessness  of 
men  within  this  closed  circle  of  a  world,  notes  man's  in- 
humanity to  man,  decides  that  there  is  no  reason  for  accepting 
the  new-fangled  notion  that  while  beasts  perish  man  has 
eternity. 

I  said  in  my  heart.  It  is  because  of  the  sons  of  men, 
that  God  may  prove  them,  and  that  they  may  see  that 
they  themselves  are  but  as  beasts.  For  that  which  be- 
falleth  the  sons  of  men  befalleth  beasts ;  even  one 
thing  befalleth  them :  as  the  one  dieth,  so  dieth  the 
other ;  yea,  they  have  all  one  breath ;  and  man  hath 
no  preeminence  above  the  beasts :  for  all  is  vanity. 
All  go  unto  one  place;  all  are  of  the  dust,  and  all  turn 
to  dust  again.  Who  knoweth  the  spirit  of  man,  whether 
it  goeth  upward,  and  the  spirit  of  the  beast,  whether 
•    it  goeth  downward  to  the  earth? — Eccl.  3:  18-21. 

The  "preacher,"  as  he  peruses  his  Genesis,  gets  no  such  honey 
from  the  rock  as  did  Longfellow,  when  he  wrote, 

"Dust  thou  art,  to  dust  returnest 
Was  not  spoken  of  the  soul." 

425 


[XXI-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

The  argument  of  Emerson  would  have  had  no  weight  with 

him: 

"What  is  excellent, 
As  God  lives,  is  permanent: 
Hearts  are  dust,  heart's  loves  remain; 
Heart's  love  will  meet  thee  again." 

Not  for  him  the  thought  that  comforted  Tennyson: 

"Thine  are  these  orbs  of  light  and  shade; 
Thou  madest  Life  in  man  and  brute ; 
Thou  madest  Death;  and  lo,  thy  foot 
Is  on  the  skull  which  thou  hast  made. 

Thou  wilt  not  leave  us  in  the  dust : 
Thou  madest  man,  he  knows  not  why, 
He  thinks  he  was  not  made  to  die ; 

And  thou  hast  made  him:  thou  art  just." 

Twenty-Brst  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

He  concludes  that  all  labor  and  skilful  work  issue  out  of 
the  cruel  competition  of  man  with  man  (4:4,  margin).  Op- 
pression, injustice,  are  to  be  expected. 

"H  thou  seest  the  oppression  of  the  poor,  and  the  violent 
taking  away  of  justice  and  righteousness  in  a  province,  marvel 
not  at  the  matter :  for  one  higher  than  the  high  regardeth ; 
and  there  are  higher  than  they"  (5:8).  There  are  policemen, 
sergeants,  captains,  inspectors,  wardmen,  aldermen,  mayors, 
governors,  satraps,  princes — grafters  all. 

Mary  Antin,   speaking  of  her  experience   in   Russia,  says : 

"You  as  a  little  girl  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  chief  of 
police,  and  excise  officers,  and  other  officers  of  the  Czar. 
Between  the  Czar  whom  you  have  never  seen,  and  the  police- 
men whom  you  knew  too  well,  you  pictured  to  yourself  a  long 
row  of  officials  of  all  sorts,  all  with  their  palms  stretched  out 
to  receive  your  father's  money.  You  knew  your  father  hated 
them  all,  but  you  saw  him  smile  and  bend  as  he  filled  those 
greedy  palms." 

May  that  world  of  the  Czar  never  return!  Into  this  kind 
of  world  Ecclesiastes  looks. 

426 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD     [XXI-5] 

Nor  does  he  see  any  use  in  patriotic  endeavor.  Mazzini's 
word  would  have  had  no  meaning  for  him: 

"Say  to  men,  'Come  and  suffer ;  you  will  hunger  and  thirst, 
you  will  perhaps  be  deceived,  be  betrayed,  be  cursed,  but  you 
have  a  great  duty  to  perform.'  They  will  be  deaf  perhaps 
for  a  long  time  to  the  voice  of  virtue,  but  on  the  day  that 
they  do  come  to  you,  they  will  come  as  heroes,  and  be  in- 
vincible." 

Ecclesiastes  is  no  forerunner  of  the  prophet  of  United 
Italy. 

One  would  imagine  that  a  man  who  has  reached  this  pass 
would  court  death  or  commit  suicide.  But  it  is  the  suppres- 
sion, rather  than  the  expression,  of  pessimism  which  leads 
to  suicide.  Indeed,  as  he  assesses  life  the  "prdacher"  finds 
some  profit,  "surplusage." 

c.  Life's  Assets. 

In  one  passage  he  asserts  that  the  day  of  death  is  better 
than  the  day  of  birth;  but  he  modestly  claims  that  a  living 
dog  is  better  than  a  dead  lion ;  the  reason  is  simply  that  the 
living  knows  that  he  is  going  to  die,  and  this  is  a  great 
deal  better  than  to  know  nothing,  the  fate  of  the  dead. 

So,  too,  he  concludes  that  wisdom  excels  folly  as  far  as 
light  excels  darkness ;  but  the  main  reason  is  this,  that  the 
wise  man's  eyes  are  in  his  head,  and  with  those  "unbandaged 
eyes"  he  can  see  whither  he  is  going — to  the  dead. 

Further,  he  discovers  that  work  is  good,  food  is  good, 
domestic  love — if  attainable — is  good. 

Go  thy  way,  eat  thy  bread  with  joy,  and  drink  thy 
wine  with  a  merry  heart;  for  God  hath  already  ac- 
cepted thy  works.  Let  thy  garments  be  always  white ; 
and  let  not  thy  head  lack  oil.  Live  joyfully  with  the 
wife  whom  thou  lovest  all  the  days  of  thy  life  of  vanity, 
which 'he  hath  given  thee  under  the  sun.  all  thy  days 
of  vanity:  for  that  is  thy  portion  in  life,  and  in  thy 
labor  wherein  thou  laborest  under  the  sun.  Whatso- 
ever thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might;  for 

427 


[XXI-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

there  is  no  work,  nor  device,  nor  knowledge,  nor  wis- 
dom, in  Sheol,  whither  thou  goest. — Eccl.  9:7-10. 

It  sounds  strangely  like  Omar: 

"A  Moment's  Halt — a  momentary  taste 
Of  Being  from,  the  Well  amid  the  waste. 

And  Lo,  the  phantom  Caravan  has  reached 
The  Nothing  it  set  out  from — Oh,  make  haste!" 

One  is  to  work  with  his  might,  why?     Because  "work  done 
for  God,  it  dieth  not"?     No;  but  work  is  one's  portion,  and 
there  will  be  no  chance  to  work  in  Sheol. 
Friendship,  too,  is  good. 

Two  are  better  than  one,  because  they  have  a  good 
reward  for  their  labor.  For  if  they  fall,  the  one  will 
lift  up  his  fellow;  but  woe  to  him  that  is  alone  when 
be  falleth,  and  hath  not  another  to  lift  him  up.  .  .  . 
And  if  a  man  prevail  against  him  that  is  alone,  two  shall 
withstand  him ;  and  a  threefold  cord  is  not  quickly 
broken. — 4:  9-12. 

Twenty-first  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

d.  Concluding  Counsel. 

After  listening  to  certain  bits  of  prudential  advice,  we  enter 
upon  the  last  essay,  which  bids  us  "to  make  the  most  of  youth, 
and  of  life's  prime,  for  age  and  death  take  all  away."  "Re- 
joice, O  young  man,  in  thy  youth,  and  let  thy  heart  cheer 
thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  and  walk  in  the  ways  of  thy 
heart,  and  in  the  sight  of  thine  eyes"  (11:9). 

The  "orthodox"  reviser  wisely  interrupts  his  thought,  to 
remind  the  young  man  that  God  will  put  his  appraisal  upon 
the  way  he  has  lived.  He  interrupts  again,  and  to  more  glori- 
ous purpose,  at  the  beginning  of  Chapter  12,  with  the  words: 
"Remember  also  thy  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy  youth."  The 
last  advice  of  the  original  author  was  apparently  this:  "There- 
fore remove  sorrow  from  thy  heart,  and  put  away  evil  from 
thy  flesh ;  for  youth  and  the  dawn  of  life  are  vanity"  (quickly 
flee)    (11 :  10). 

428 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD     [XXI-7] 

Before  the  evil  days  come,  and  the  years  draw  nigh, 
when  thou  shalt  say,  1  have  no  pleasure  in  them ;  be- 
fore the  sun,  and  the  light,  and  the  moon,  and  the  stars, 
are  darkened,  and  the  clouds  return  after  the  rain ; 
in  the  day  when  the  keepers  of  the  house  shall  tremble, 
and  the  strong  men  shall  bow  themselves,  and  the  grind- 
ers cease  because  they  are  few,  and  those  that  look  out 
of  the  windows  shall  be  darkened,  and  the  doors  shall 
be  shut  in  the  street;  when  the  sound  of  the  grinding 
is  low,  and  one  shall  rise  up  at  the  voice  of  a  bird,  and 
all  the  daughters  of  music  shall  be  brought  low  ;  yea, 
they  shall  be  afraid  of  that  which  is  high,  and  terrors 
shall  be  in  the  way ;  and  the  almond-tree  shall  blossom, 
and  the  grasshopper  shall  be  a  burden,  and  desire  shall 
fail ;  because  man  goeth  to  his  everlasting  home,  and 
the  mourners  go  about  the  streets :  before  the  silver 
cord  is  loosed,  or  the  golden  bowl  is  broken,  or  the 
pitcher  is  broken  at  the  fountain,  or  the  wheel  broken 
at  the  cistern,  and  the  dust  returneth  to  the  earth  as  it 
was,  and  the  spirit  returneth  unto  God  who  gave  it. 
Vanity  of  vanities,  saith  the  Preacher;  all  is  vanity. — 
Eccl.  12 :  ib-8. 

So  the  sorrowful  man,  with  those  unbandaged  eyes  of  his, 
looks  down  the  long  gray  path  to  old  age,  when  the  arms  and 
legs  grow  weak,  the  teeth  fall  out,  the  eyes  grow  dim ;  sees 
at  last  the  mourners  go  about  the  street ;  and  bids  men  "seize 
the  day."  Even  at  the  last  there  is  no  suggestion  of  immor- 
tality. The  dust  returns  to  the  earth,  and  "God  undoes  his 
creative  work."  At  the  first  God  gave  to  man  the  breath  or 
spirit  of  life.  Now  at  death  he  takes  it  away.  It  is  not 
strange  that  the  "Preacher"  ends  upon  the  same  note  which 
he  struck  at  the  beginning:  "V^anity  of  vanities,  all  is  vanity." 
Accept  his  presuppositions — the  writer  has  proved  his  thesis. 

Twenty-Hrst  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

Some  commentators,  assuming  that  the  book  has  received  no 
revisions,  hear  in  Ecclesiastes  two  voices,  one  of  skepticism, 
the  other  of  faith.  But  the  voice  of  faith  interrupts,  very 
worthily,  the  voice  of  the  persistently  skeptical  author.  His 
own  message  to  our  time  is  this:  Grant  that  life  is  a  closed 

429 


IXXI-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

circle,  grant  that  the  crooked  cannot  be  made  straight, 
yet  it  is  worth  while  for  a  man  to  work  hard,  to  cherish 
the  wife  of  his  youth,  to  keep  a  stifif  upper  lip,  to  enjoy  the 
real  though  fleeting  goods  of  life,  to  look  with  kindly  if  hope- 
less sympathy  upon  other  men,  and  to  look  up  to  God  with 
sincere  though  wordless  reverence.  Ecclesiastes  has  no  mes- 
sage for  the  dying  hero,  or  the  lifelong  invalid.  He  could 
not  plead  with  a  man  as  did  the  poet : 

"Small  the  pipe,  but  Oh,  do  thou 
Peak-faced  and   suffering  piper   blow   therein 
The  dirge  of  heroes  dead,  and  to  these  sick, 
These  dying,  sound  the  triumph  over  death." 

He  has  no  message  but  one  of  despairing  submission  for 
the  victims  of  the  world's  greed  and  cruelty,  the  victims  of 
life's  handicaps.  He  misses  what  Jesus  taught  the  world: 
the  conviction  that  there  is  a  loving  Father  God,  and  the 
resulting  convictions  of  social  progress,  the  infinite  worth 
of  the  individual,  the  spiritual  fruits  of  sacrifice,  immortality. 

But  the  book  is  worthy  of  prolonged  study.  A  man  appre- 
ciates his  country  more,  when  he  has  met  a  man  without  a 
country.  He  appreciates  more  the  riches  of  love  in  Christ 
Jesus,  after  he  has  met  a  man  who  never  heard  or  dreamed  of 
Christ. 

A  writer  quotes  the  words  of  Fitz-James  Stephen: 

"We  stand  on  a  mountain  pass  in  the  midst  of  whirling 
snow  and  blinding  mist,  through  which  we  get  glimpses  now 
and  then  of  paths  which  may  be  deceptive.  H  we  take  the 
wrong  road,  we  shall  be  dashed  to  pieces.  We  do  not  know 
certainly  whether  there  is  any  right  one.  What  must  we  do? 
Re  strong  and  of  a  good  courage.  Act  for  the  best,  hope 
for  the  best,  and  take  what  comes,  li  death  ends  all,  we  can- 
not meet  death  better." 

Brave  words,  which  in  a  tired  fashion  Ecclesiastes  would 
have  endorsed.  But  the  "Preacher's"  best  was  by  no  means 
our  best.  Indeed,  even  while  the  man  was  standing  on  his 
mountain   pass,  in  the  midst  of  whirling  snow  and  blinding 

430 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD    [XXI-7] 

mist,  there  were  men  in  his  own  city,  who  lived  in  the  radiant 
sunlight  of  a  service  which  was  perfect  liberty,  men  who 
could  make  their  own,  with  an  emphasis  upon  the  first  per- 
sonal pronoun,  the  words  of  the  prophet: 

The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  upon  me;  because 
Jehovah  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  unto 
the  meek ;  he  hath  sent  me  to  bind  up  the  broken- 
hearted, to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the 
opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound;  to  pro- 
claim the  year  of  Jehovah's  favor,  and  the  day  of  ven- 
geance of  our  God  ;  to  comfort  all  that  mourn ;  to  ap- 
point unto  them  that  mourn  in  Zion,  to  give  unto  them 
a  garland  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  the 
garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness ;  that  they 
may  be  called  trees  of  righteousness,  the  planting  of 
Jehovah,  that  he  may  be  glorified. — Isaiah  61 :  1-3. 

4.    The  Chronicles — ^Judah's  Story — a  Sermon 

It  is  possible  that  about  Ecclesiastes,  "the  Caller  of  Assem- 
blies," there  gathered  a  group  of  men  who  shared  his  hetero- 
dox views  of  life.  But  in  Jerusalem  there  was  another  man 
or  school  of  men  who  found  no  such  difficulty  as  afflicted  Job 
or  Ecclesiastes  in  vindicating  the  general  goodness  of  the 
world,  or  in  vindicating  the  ways  of  God  with  men. 

After  reading  the  book  of  Job  with  its  fierce  indictment 
of  God's  rule,  one  is  tempted  to  think  that  the  book  of 
Chronicles  must  have  been  written  as  a  counter-offensive, 
launched  to  crush  Job's  attack.  First  and  Second  Chronicles 
were  probably  completed  in  the  early  Greek  period.  As  we 
have  seen  (p.  304),  they  look  back  upon  the  history  of  Judah 
to  find  there  the  one  invariable  law :  Personal  and  communal 
righteousness  means  prosperity,  personal  and  communal  sin 
means  ruin.  No  doubts  assail  the  Chronicler,  no  remediless 
world-pain  afflicts  him.  His  message  probably  did  little  to 
silence  or  to  convert  men  of  the  temper  of  Job  or  of  Ecclesi- 
astes. It  brought  to  the  faint-hearted  and  the  faithful,  the 
quiet  and  afflicted  people,  strong  encouragement  to  fight  the 
good  fight  of  faith. 

431 


[XXII-i]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Twenty-second  Week,  First  Day, 

5.    Proverbs — Voices  of  the  Believing  Wise 

Read   Prov.  4,  8,   and  9 — passages   from  the  noble  Wisdom 
Sonnet 

A  writer  speaking  of  our  own  times  says : 

"A  thousand  creeds  and  battle  cries, 

A  thousand  warring  social  schemes, 
A  thousand  new  moralities, 
And  twenty  thousand,  thousand  dreams.'' 

A  Jerusalem  poet  of  the  Greek  period  might  have  sung  a 
similar  song  of  his  time  and  city.  It  was  a  wholesome  thing 
for  the  young  men  of  Jerusalem,  and  a  happy  providence 
for  us,  that  there  had  gro^wn  up  through  the  centuries  a  school 
of  wise  men,  who  did  not  care  very  much  for  the  new  creeds 
and  cries,  and  schemes  and  dreams,  but  did  care  a  great  deal 
for  the  old  morality,  based  on  the  quiet  old-time  trust  in  God. 

To  these  wise  men  we  owe  the  book  of  Proverbs,  which 
probably  received  its  present  form  about  the  middle  of  the 
third  century  B.  C. 

As  we  attribute  every  particularly  witty  story  to  Lincoln, 
so  the  Jews  were  accustomed  to  bring  all  their  wise  saws 
and  sayings  under  the  literary  protection  of  the  great  name 
of  Solomon. 

Moulton  distinguishes  four  types  of  Proverbs :  First,  the 
unit  proverb,  a  couplet,  rarely  a  triplet,  in  which  the  thought 
is  bounded  by  its  own  horizon ;  second,  the  proverb  cluster, 
in  which  "independent  sayings  are  gathered  about  a  common 
theme" ;  third,  the  epigram,  a  unit  proverb  organically  ex- 
panded, the  original  saying  being  elaborated  into  a  longer 
verse;  and  fourth,  the  wisdom  sonnet,  in  which  the  thought 
is  molded  to  special  form. 

a.  The  Praise  of  Wisdom. 

The  first  nine  chapters  are  devoted  to  the  praise  of  Wisdom. 
432 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD  [XXII-i] 

Mark  the  social  background  of  the  chapters.  Robber  bands 
are  at  work,  which  make  a  real  appeal  to  average  young  men 
for  cooperation.  Men  of  violence  are  common,  men  who 
wink  with  the  eye,  shuffle  with  the  feet,  make  signs  with  the 
fingers,  become  the  envy  of  young  men,  as  in  the  days 
of  Dickens's  '"Fagin"  and  "the  Artful  Dodger."  Licentious- 
ness is  prevalent.  The  sage  is  seeking  to  make  young  men 
fall  in  love — with  Wisdom.  Wisdom,  infinitely  precious,  is 
regarded  as  practically  synonymous  with  discretion,  knowl- 
edge, understanding,  prudence,  uprightness,  and  is  contrasted 
with  simplicity,  scorning,  folly,  wickedness.  Wisdom  has  been 
defined  as  "moral  and  religious  intelligence,  or  the  knowledge 
of  right  living," 

Happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  wisdom. 

And  the  man  that  getteth  understanding. 

For  the  gaining  of  it  is  better  than  the  gaining  of  silver, 

And  the  profit  thereof  than  fine  gold. 

She  is   more  precious   than   rubies : 

And   none   of   the   things   thou   canst   desire  are   to   be 

compared  unto  her. 
Length  of  days  is  in  her  right  hand; 
In  her  left  hand  are  riches  and  honor. 
Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness, 
And  all  her  paths  are  peace. 

She  is  a  tree  of  life  to  them  that  lay  hold  upon  her: 
And  happy  is  every  one  that  retaineth  her. 
Jehovah  by  wisdom  founded  the  earth ; 
By  understanding  he  established  the  heavens. 
By  his  knowledge  the  depths  were  broken  up, 
And  the  skies  drop  down  the  dew. 
My  son,  let  them  not  depart  from  thine  eyes ; 
Keep  sound  wisdom  and  discretion : 
So  shall  they  be  life  unto  thy  soul, 
And  grace  to  thy  neck. 

Then  shalt  thou  walk  in  thy  way  securely, 
And  thy  foot  shall  not  stumble. 
When  thou  liest  down,  thou  shalt  not  be  afraid: 
Yea,  thou  shalt  lie  down,  and  thy  sleep  shall  be  sweet. 

— Prov.  3  :  13-24. 

Possibly  the  quintessence  of  the  teaching  of  this  Wisdom 
433 


[XXII-2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

might  be  expressed  in  the  words  which  served  as  one  of  the 
mottoes  of  David  Livingstone: 

In  all  thy  ways  acknowledge  him, 

And  he  will  direct  thy  paths. — Prov.  3 :  6. 

How  then  is  one  to  get  this  infinitely  precious  Wisdom? 
The  words  quoted  help  us  to  the  answer:  Jehovah  is  the 
fountain-head  of  Wisdom. 

Jehovah  giveth  wisdom, 

Out  of  his  mouth  cometh  knowledge  and  understand-  • 
ing. — Prov.  2 :  6. 

And  the  method  of  gaining  Wisdom  from  the  Source  is 
reverence,  the  fear  of  Jehovah.  Professor  Fairbairn  remarks : 
"It  is  within  my  recollection  no  unusual  thing  to  see  as  mem- 
bers of  the  same  session,  and  all  duly  ordained  elders  charged 
with  the  spiritual  oversight  of  the  congregation,  the  laird, 
the  schoolmaster,  the  doctor,  the  farmer,  the  farm-servant, 
or  the  shepherd;  and  of  these  I  have  known  the  last  to  be 
the  man  of  finest  character,  of  most  wisdom  in  counsel,  and 
of  greatest  spiritual  weight  in  the  congregation  or  parish." 
A  man  said  of  his  son,  whom  he  had  put  through  college  at 
great  expense:  "I  poured  in  this  gold,  and  it  came  out  this 
calf."  The  reverent,  unlearned  shepherd  drinks  at  the  Source 
of  Wisdom  while  the  self-complacent  snob  saunters  toward 
a  mirage,  and  in  his  age  perishes  of  thirst.  The  wise  man 
pleads : 

Keep  thy  heart  above  all  that  thou  guardest;  (margin) 
For  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life. — Prov.  4:23. 

Here  we  are  in  a  kingdom  of  thought  in  which  Jesus 
has  made  his  followers  citizens  (Matt.  15:  18-20). 

Twenty-second  Week,  Second  Day. 

In  Chapter  5  we  have  a  searching  arraignment  of  the  im- 
moral woman,  and  a  keen  analysis  of  the  effects  of  immorality 
upon  the  man:  First,  a  man's  honor  given  to  another;  'second, 

434 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD  [XXII-2] 

a  man's  enslavement  to  the  cruel ;  third,  sorrow  and  remorse ; 
fourth,  loathsome  disease. 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  writer  in  his  discussion  of  vice  is 
essentially  egoistic.  Jesus  must  needs  come  to  show  to  men 
the  higher  motives  to  purity. 

"The  immoral  man  is  a  hypocrite,  a  coward,  an  ingrate  and 
a  traitor.  For  he  is  taking  with  one  hand  from  his  fellows 
the  blessings  of  their  integrity  and  purity  and  kindness,  and 
with  the  other  he  is  giving  back  in  some  sneaking,  under- 
handed way  the  curses  of  dishonesty,  uncleanness,  and  cruelty. 
...  To  act  like  a  brute,  and  still  to  move  among  men,  to 
wallow  with  the  beasts,  and  still  to  claim  a  home  made  sweet 
and  pure  by  woman — this  receiving  good  and  rendering 
evil  in  return,  this  living  like  a  parasite  on  a  social  system, 
out  of  which  one  is  sucking  the  life-blood,  this  in  plain  terms 
is  what  the  immoral  man  amounts  to,  this  is  precisely  what 
it  means  to  be  a  sinner."^ 

The  effects  of  immorality  upon  womanhood,  childhood,  the 
home,  society,  the  nation ;  the  appeal  to  chivalry — these  our 
author  does  not  largely  consider. 

In  Chapters  7,  8,  ^nd  9  the  sage  makes  the  profound  sug- 
gestion that  Wisdom  uses  just  as  great  effort  as  Folly  to 
find  guests  for  her  house. 

Wisdom  hath  builded  her  house; 

She  hath  hewn  out  her  seven  pillars : 

She  hath  killed  her  beasts;  she  hath  mingled  her  wine; 

She  hath  also  furnished  her  table : 

She  hath  sent  forth  her  maidens  ; 

She  crieth  upon  the  highest  places  of  the  city: 

Whoso  is  simple,  let  him  turn  in  hither : 

As  for  him  that  is  void  of  understanding,  she  saith  to 

him, 
Come,  eat  ye  of  my  bread. 
And  drink  of  the  wine  which  I  have  mingled. 
Leave  ofiF,  ye  simple  ones,  and  live ; 
And  walk  in  the  way  of  understanding. 

— Prov.  9:  1-6. 

We   have  already   observed   the  prophet's   thought  of   the 


Hyde,  "God's  Education  of  Man,"  p.  84ff. 

435 


[XXIl-2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

allurements  of  God  (p.  224).  Have  the  great  servants  of  the 
common  good  never  been  tempted?  Have  they  never  heard 
the  appeal  of  Folly?  But  they  have  had  eyes  to  see  the 
house  of  Wisdom  and  the  house  of  Folly,  the  feasts  which 
they  spread,  and  the  guests  who  have  accepted  their  invita- 
tions. As  they  have  regarded  the  house  of  Folly,  they  have 
noticed  that 

the  dead  are  there; 
That  her  guests  are  in  the  depths  of  Sheol. — Prov.  9 :  18. 

In  Chapter  8  Wisdom  is  personified  in  a  way  which  suggests 
an  important  tendency  in  Jewish  thought. 

Jehovah  possessed  me  in  the  beginning  of  his  way, 
Before  his  works  of  old. 

I  was  set  up  from  everlasting,  from  the  beginning, 
Before  the  earth  was. 

When  there  were  no  depths,  I  was  brought  forth, 
When  there  were  no  fountains  abounding  with  water. 
Before  the  mountains  were  settled. 
Before  the  hills  was  I  brought  forth ; 
While  as  yet  he  had  not  made  the  earth,  nor  the  fields, 
Nor  the  beginning  of  the  dust  of  the  world. 
When  he  established  the  heavens,  I  was  there: 
When  he  set  a  circle  upon  the  face  of  the  deep, 
When  he  made  firm  the  skies  above, 
When  the  fountains  of  the  deep  became  strong, 
.     When  he  gave  to  the  sea  its  bound. 

That   the   waters   should  not  transgress  his   command- 
ment, 
When  he  marked  out  the  foundations  of  the  earth ; 
Then  I.  was  by  him,  as  a  master  workman; 
And  I  was  daily  his  delight. 
Rejoicing  always  before  him. 
Rejoicing  in  his  habitable  earth; 
And  my  delight  was  with  the  sons  of  men. 

— Prov.  8:22-31. 

Wisdom  became  in  the  minds  of  later  thinkers  almost,  if 
not  quite,  an  actual  person.  We  have  seen  how  some  of  the 
Jews  of  the  Dispersion  sought  to  harmonize  the  Hebrew 
faith  with  the  Greek  philosophy.  In  the  time  of  Jesus  Philo 
of  Alexandria,  working  at  this  great  problem,  identified  the 

436 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD  [XXII-3] 

Hebrew  Wisdom  with  the  Greek  Reason.  Then  came  the 
interpretation  of  Jesus  by  John's  gospel,  which  would  seem 
practically  to  say:  "As  Philo  identified  Wisdom  with  the 
Logos  or  Reason,  I  identify  Jesus  with  the  Logos."  Thus 
we  have  the  great  equation :  The  Hebrew  Wisdom  equals 
the  Greek  Logos  equals  the  historic  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord, 

Twenty-second  Week,  Third  Day. 

One  may  not  close  these  nine  chapters  without  observing 
that  such  warnings  and  invitations,  noble,  important  as  they 
are,  are  half  futile.  No  man  knows  so  well  as  the  doctors 
the  ruinous  effects  of  drugs ;  but  doctors  furnish  many  drug 
victims.  We  doubtless  need  information,  but  far  more  do 
we  need  inspiration.  Not  so  much  do  we  need  proverbs  as 
power. 

Read  Prov.  22:  1-16  for  a  five-minute  visit  with  a  wise  man. 

b.  Advice  and  Observations  of  the  Wise. 

In  Book  II,  extending  from  Chapter  10  to  22:  16  we  have 
375  unit  proverbs,  each  complete  in  itself.  They  bring  to 
us  the  wise  man's  thought  of  God,  his  omniscience,  his  equity, 
his  resistless  but  wholly  beneficent  will.  God  is  on  the  side 
of  the  poor  man  (11  :i;  14:31).  The  importance  of  words 
is  stressed  almost  as  earnestly  as  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus. 
We  read  of  the  lips  of  truth  (12:  19),  the  lips  of  peace  (14: 
17,  29;  15:1;  16:32),  the  lips  of  folly  (18:6,  7),  the  lips 
which  separate  even  friends  (17:9).  More  impressive  are 
the  proverbs  of  the  heart.  The  writer  understood  the  close 
relation  of  the  heart  life  to  health. 

A  tranquil  heart  is  the  life  of  the  flesh  ; 

But  envy  is  the  rottenness  of  the  bones. — Prov.  14:30. 

He  was  familiar  with  the  sorrowful  and  the  lonely  heart. 
He  had  shared  the  experience  of  Henry  Drummond,  the 
princely  friend,  of  whom  his  biographer  writes :  "Through 
the  radiance  of  his  presence  and  the   familiarity  of  his  talk, 

437 


[XXII-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

there  stole  out  upon  those  who  were  becoming  his  friends 
the  sense  of  great  loneliness  and  silence  behind,  as  when  you 
catch  a  snowpeak  across  the  summer  fragrance  and  music 
of  a  Swiss  meadow." 

"Yes,  in  the  sea  of  life  enisled, 

With  echoing  straits  between  us  thrown, 
Dotting  the  shoreless  watery  wild, 
We  mortal  millions  live  alone." 

The  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitterness; 
And   a   stranger   doth   not   intermeddle   with   its   joy. — 
Prov.  14:  10. 

The  rewards  offered  by  the  proverbs  of  the  second  book 
are  the  goods  of  this  present  life:  length  of  days,  peace,  pros- 
perity, good  reputation,  and  the  like.  Two  words  seem  to 
venture  beyond  this  life: 

To  the  wise  the  way  of  life  goeth  upward, 

That  he  may  depart  from  Sheol  beneath. — Prov.  15:24. 

But  "there  is  in  this  verse  [probably]  no  intimation  of  happy 
immortality." 

The  wicked  is  thrust  down  in  his  calamity   (margin), 
But  the   righteous   hath  a   refuge   in   his   death. — Prov. 
14:32. 

If  the  reading  is  correct,  we  have  here  apparently  "a  doctrine 
of  immortality,  which  is  ignored  in  the  rest  of  the  book." 

Twenty-second  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

Read  Proverbs  24,  making  special  note  of  the  proverbs  of 
philanthropy,  and  those  which  reject  the  law  of  retaliation, 
and  approach  the  law  of  Jesus. 

c.  "A  Little  Manual  of  Conduct." 

In  Book  III,  22:  17-24:  34,  we  have  "a  graceful  and  quite 
complete  little  manual  of  conduct,  especially  regarding  what 
may  be  called  secondary  duties  of  life  and  manners."" 

"  Genung,  quoted  by  Fowler. 

438 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD  [XXn-4] 

Like  all  his  brothers,  the  compiler  of  this  manual  is  a 
sworn  foe  of  the  slacker,  the  sluggard. 

I  went  by  the  field  of  the  sluggard, 
And  by  the  vineyard  of  the  man  void  of  understand- 
ing; 
And,  lo,  it  was  all  grown  over  with  thorns, 
The  face  thereof  was  covered  with  nettles, 
And  the  stone  wall  thereof  was  broken  down. 
Then  I  beheld,  and  considered  well; 
I  saw,  and  received  instruction  : 
Yet  a  little  sleep,  a  little  slumber, 
A  little  folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep; 
So  shall  thy  poverty  come  as  a  robber. 
And  thy  want  as  an  armed  man. — Prov.  24 :  30-34. 

"The  longer  on  this  earth  we  live, 
And  weigh  the  various  qualities  of  men. 
Seeing  how  most  are   fugitive 
Or  fitful  gifts,  at  best,  of  now  and  then, 
Wind-wavered,  corpse  lights,  daughters  of  the  fen, 
The  more  we  feel  the  high  stern-featured  beauty 
Of  plain  devotedness  to  duty; 
Stedfast  and  still,  nor  paid  with  mortal  praise. 
But  finding  amplest  recompense 
For  life's  ungarlanded  expense 
In  work  done  squarely  and  unwasted  days." 

— James  Russell  Lowell,  "Under  the  Old  Elm." 

Aside  from  the  familiar  emphases,  the  manual  dwells  upon 
the  rights  of  property,  good  manners  at  a  king's  table,  and 
similar  topics.  And  then  we  have  a  sonnet  on  wine,  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  indictments  of  intemperance  to  be  read 

in   literature. 

Who  hath  woe?  who  hath  sorrow?  who  hath  conten- 
tions? 

Who  hath  complaining?  who  hath  wounds  without 
cause? 

Who  hath  redness  of  eyes? 

They  that  tarry  long  at  the  wine ; 

They  that  go  to  seek  out  mixed  wine.    • 

Look  not  thou  upon  the  wine  when  it  is  red. 

When  it  sparkleth  in  the  cup. 

When  it  goeth   down   smoothly: 

439 


[XXII-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

At  the  last  it  biteth  like  a  serpent, 

And  stingeth  like  an  adder. 

Thine  eyes  shall  behold  strange  things, 

And  thy  heart  shall  utter  perverse  things. 

Yea,  thou  shalt  be  as  he  that  lieth  down  in  the  midst 

of  the  sea, 
Or  as  he  that  lieth  upon  the  top  of  a  mast. 
They  have  stricken  me,  shalt  thou  say,  and  I  was  not 

hurt; 
They  have  beaten  me,  and  I   felt  it  not: 
When  shall  I  awake?     I  will  seek  it  yet  again. — Prov. 

22,  ■•  29-35. 

Poets  have  been  very  fond  of  praising  the  flowing  bowl, 
the  ruby  wine.  It  would  be  worth  while  to  gather  an  an- 
thology, which  would  make  us  feel  the  bite,  the  sting.  Such 
an  anthology  might  include  this : 

"At  the  punch-bowl's  brink, 
Let  the  thirsty  think 
What  they  say  in  Japan : 

'First  the  man  takes  a  drink, 
Then  the  drink  takes  a  drink. 
Then  the  drink  takes  the  man  1'  "— E.  R.  Sill. 

And  this,  from  Le  Gallienne : 

"This  shall  the  vine  do  for  you :  it  shall  break 
The  woman's  heart  that  loves  you ;  it  shall  take 
Away  from  you  your  friends,  sad,  one  by  one. 
And  of  your  own  kind  heart  an  agate  make." 

The  social  significance  of  the  sin  of  drink  did  not  greatly 
concern  the  writer  of  Proverbs. 

This  third  book  is  more  rich  than  the  others  in  proverbs 
of  social  salvation.  In  22 :  22,  23  God  is  recognized  as  the 
kinsman-redeemer  of  the  poor. 

Rob  not  the  poor,  because  he  is  poor; 
Neither  oppress  the  afflicted  in  the  gate: 
For  Jehovah  will  plead  their  cause, 
And  despoil  of  life  those  that  despoil  them. 

In  24:  II,  12,  the  flimsy  excuses  by  which  we  try  to  deceive 

440 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD  [XXII-5] 

ourselves  for  our  lack  of  brotherhood  are  torn  away  and  we 
are  reminded  that  we  cannot  deceive  God. 

Deliver  them  that  are  carried  away  unto  death, 

And  those  that  are  ready  to  be  slain  see  that  thou  hold 

back. 
If  thou  sayest,  Behold,  we  knew  not  this; 
Doth  not  he  that  weigheth  the  hearts  consider  it? 
And  he  that  keepeth  thy  soul,  doth  not  he  know  it? 

Nowadays,  our  money  and  our  postal  service  and  our  com- 
merce and  our  missionaries  have  given  us  oftentimes  arms 
long  enough  and  strong  enough  to  deliver  a  man  in  China, 
or  a  man  in  India,  or  a  man  in  Armenia.  And  if  a  man  says, 
"I  didn't  happen  to  read  the  missionary  journals,"  "doth  not 
he  that  weigheth  the  hearts  consider  it?  And  he  that  keepeth 
thy  soul,  doth  he  not  know  it?" 

Twenty-second  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

As  the  poor  and  the  perishing  are  to  be  the  objects  of  com- 
passion, so  the  fall  of  one's  enemy  is  not  to  bring  to  us  glad- 
ness— a  hard  saying,  this. 

Rejoice  not  when  thine  enemy  falleth. 
And  let  not  thy  heart  be  glad  when  he  is  overthrown. 
— Prov.  24:  17  {cf.  Job  31  :    29). 

Nor  is  a  man  to  return  evil  for  evil ;  he  is  not  to  take 
advantage  of  the  lex  talionis,  which  was  not  only  the  per- 
mitted, but  the  commanded  law  of  the  Semite  world : 

Say  not,  I  will  do  so  to  him  as  he  hath  done  to  me; 
I  will  render  to  the  man  according  to  his  work. — Prov. 
24 :  29. 

The  words  seem  like  messages  from  the  New  Testament. 
When  one  asks  the  writer's  motive  for  this  high,  almost 
Christlike  morality,  one  is  disappointed.  A  man  is  not  to 
gloat  over  his  enemy;  why? 

Lest  Jehovah  see  it,  and  it  displease  him, 

And  he  turn  away  his  wrath  from  him. — Prov.  24:  18. 

441 


[XXII-5]   RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

God  may  be  more  interested  in  punishing  the  inflated  and 
contemptuous  man  than  in  punishing  the  man  despised. 

d.  Comments  on  Life  and  the  Day's  Work. 
Read  Prov.  25,  Little  Studies  in  the  Art  of  Living  Together. 

Book  IV  carries  us  through  Chapters  25  to  29.  Its  proverbs 
may  be  studied,  when  opportunity  offers,  under  the  headings: 

(i)  Concerning  God  and  man. 

(2)   Concerning  man  and  man. 

It  is  fascinating  to  remember  that  our  Lord  was  familiar 
with  the  Proverbs,  and  talked  with  men  who  knew  them  well. 

Put  not  thyself  forward  in  the  presence  of  the  king, 
And  stand  not  in  the  place  of  great  men: 
For  better  is  it  that  it  be  said  unto  thee,  Come  up  hither, 
Than  that  thou  shouldest  be  put  lower  in  the  presence 

of  the  prince, 
Whom    thine    eyes    have    seen. — Prov.    25 : 6,    7     (C/. 

Luke  14:7-11). 

Paul  found  in  the  old  book  words  which  expressed  his  own 
lofty  Christian  morality. 

If  thine  enemy  be  hungry,  give  him  bread  to  eat; 
And  if  he  be  thirsty,  give  him  water  to  drink: 
For  thou  wilt  heap  coals  of  fire  upon  his  head. — Prov. 
25:21,  22  (C/.  Rom.  12:    20). 

Here  again  the  motive  suggested  by  the  proverb  is  one  of 
self-regard,  if  not  selfishness:  "Jehovah  will  reward  thee"; 
but  the  conduct  breaks  absolutely  with  the  old-time  customary 
morality.  The  message  finds  a  fitting  footnote  in  the  words 
01  Orville  Dewey: 

"Every  relation  to  mankind  of  hate,  or  scorn,  or  neglect  is 
full  of  vexation  and  torment.  There  is  nothing  to  do  with 
men  but  to  love  them,  to  contemplate  their  virtues  with 
admiration,  their  faults  with  pity  and  forbearance,  their  in- 
juries with  forgiveness.  Task  all  the  ingenuity  of  your  mind 
to  devise  some  other  thing,  but  you  can  never  find  it.  To 
hate  your  adversary  will  not  help  you;  nothing  within  the 
compass  of  the  universe  can  help  you,  but  to  love  him." 

442 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD  [XXII-5] 

And  the  Great  War  has  justified  itself  in  the  thoughts  of 
Christian  men  in  so  far  as  it  has  been  the  expression,  even 
in  its  most  ghastly  transactions,  of  our  love  both  for  those 
we  have  counted  our  allies  and  those  we  have  counted  our 
foes. 

e.    Further  Hints  to  Men  and  Women  Who  Wish  to  "Count." 

In  Book  V,  Chapters  30  and  31,  we  have  shorter  collections. 
In  Chapter  30  there  is  a  beautiful  and  worthy  prayer,  in  which 
one  asks  that  he  may  belong  to  the  middle  class : 

Two  things  have  I  asked  of  thee; 
•  Deny  me  them  not  before  I  die: 
Remove  far  from  me  falsehood  and  lies; 
Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches ; 
Feed  me  with  the  food  that  is  needful  for  me: 
Lest  I  be  full,  and  deny  thee,  and  say.  Who  is  Jehovah? 
Or  lest  I  be  poor,  and  steal. 
And  use  profanely  the  name  of  my  God. — Prov.  30 :  7-9. 

The  lines  are  worth  memorizing  by  students,  concerning 
whose  fathers  and  elder  brothers  Robert  Service  could  write 
"The  Trail  of  Ninety-Eight."  He  is  thinking  of  the  lure  of 
the  gold  of  the  Yukon: 

"Never  was  seen  such  an  army, 
Pitiful,   futile,  unfit; 
Never  was  seen  such  a  spirit, 
Manifold   courage  and  grit. 
Never  has  been  such  a  cohort, 
Under  one  banner  unrolled, 
As  surged  to  the  ragged-edged  Arctic, 
Urged  by  the  arch-tempter,  Gold.  .  .  . 

Never  will  I   forget  it. 
There  on  the  mountain-face, 
Ant-like,  men  with  their  burdens, 
Clinging  in  icy  space ; 
Dogged,  determined  and  dauntless, 
Cruel  and  callous  and  cold, 
Cursing,  blaspheming,   reviling, 
And  ever  that  battle-cry.  Gold!" 

"It  is  perfectly  terrible  to  be  worth  nothing  but  money." 

443 


[XXII-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

The  proverb  is  perhaps  too  deeply  impressed  by  the  perils 
of  poverty.     Says  William  James : 

"We  have  grown  literally  afraid  to  be  poor.  The  desire 
to  gain  wealth  and  the  fear  to  lose  it  are  our  chief  breeders 
of  cowardice  and  propagators  of  corruption.  ,  .  .  The  preva- 
lent fear  of  poverty  among  the  educated  classes  is  the  worst 
moral  disease  from  which  our  civilization  suffers." 

But  one  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  in  American  life  is  the 
multiplication  of  the  modest  streets  in  our  cities,  where  men 
and  women  of  the  middle  class  are  paying  for  their  homes, 
living  worthily  of  America's  democratic  tradition  and  hope. 

Twenty-second  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

In  Chapter  30  we  have  a  charming  number  sonnet,  regarding 
certain  small  but  wise  creatures  at  whose  tiny  feet  we  Ameri- 
cans do  well  to  sit,  we  who  so  often  confuse  bigness  with 
greatness,  who  boast  of  belonging  to  the  biggest  city  or  the 
biggest  state,  or  the  biggest  nation,  forgetting  that  a  big  man 
may  be  a  big  fool  and  that  girth  not  matched  by  height  may 
be  a  signal  of  warning  to  a  life  insurance  company. 

There  are  four  things  which  are  little  upon  the  earth, 

But  they  are  exceeding  wise: 

The  ants  are  a  people  not  strong. 

Yet  they  provide  their  food  in  the  summer ; 

The  conies  are  but  a  feeble  folk, 

Yet  make  they  their  houses  in  the  rocks; 

The  locusts  have  no  king,  • 

Yet  go  they  forth  all  of  them  by  bands; 

The  lizard  taketh  hold  with  her  hands, 

Yet  is  she  in  kings'  palaces. — Prov.  30 :  24-28. 

In  Chapter  31  there  is  a  proverb  on  wine  which  may  seem  to 
qualify  the  indictment  of  Chapter  23: 

It  is  not   for  kings,  O   Lemuel,   it  is  not  for  kings  to 

drink  wine ; 
Nor  for  princes  to  say.  Where  is  strong  drink? 
Lest  they  drink,  and  forget  the  law. 
And  pervert  the  justice  due  to  any  that  is  afflicted. 

444 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD   [XXII-6] 

Give  strong  drink  unto  him  that  is  ready  to  perish, 

And  wine  unto  the  bitter  in  soul : 

Let  him  drink,  and  forget  his  poverty, 

And  remember  his  misery  no  more. — Prov.  31 :  4-7. 

The  man  who  drinks  to  forget  his  poverty  and  his  misery 
will  find  both  grown  large  when  he  awakes.  The  proverb 
offers  its  own  partial  corrective.  "It  is  not  for  kings  to  drink 
wine."  Nowadays  when  an  acclaimed  monarch  departs  with 
every  morning  newspaper,  every  man's  a  king. 

In  31  :  10-31  we  have  an  acrostic  poem,  each  couplet  begin- 
ning with  the  appropriate  letter  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet,  a 
poem  happily  called  "The  A  B  C  of  the  Perfect  Wife." 

She  maketh  linen  garments  and  selleth  them, 

And  delivereth  girdles  unto  the  merchant. 

Strength  and  dignity  are  her  clothing; 

And  she  laugheth  at  the  time  to  come. 

She  openeth  her  mouth  with  wisdom; 

And  the  law  of  kindness  is  on  her  tongue. 

She  looketh  well  to  the  ways  of  her  household, 

And   eateth  not  the  bread  of   idleness. 

Her  children  rise  up,  and  call  her  blessed; 

Her  husband  also,  and  he  praiseth  her,  saying: 

Many  daughters  have  done  worthily. 

But  thou  excellest  them  all. 

Grace  is  deceitful,  and  beauty  is  vain; 

But  a  woman  that  feareth  Jehovah,  she  shall  be  praised. 

Give  her  of  the  fruit  of  her  hands; 

And  let  her  works  praise  her  in  the  gates. 

— Prov.   31  :  24-31. 

This  ideal  woman  is  characterized  by  industry,  financial 
skill,  prudence,  reverence,  and  wise  and  kindly  speech. 

"She  openeth  her  mouth  with  wisdom ; 
And  the  law  of  kindness  is  on  her  tongue." 

"She  never  found  fault  with  you.  never  implied 
Your  wrong  by  her  right,  and  yet  men  at  her  side 
Grew  nobler,  girls  purer,  as  through  the  whole  town 
The  children  were  gladder  that  pulled  at  her  gown." 

Her   husband    still    sits    with    men   alone    at    the   city   gate, 
445 


[XXII-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

managing  without  her  help,  and  doubtless  rather  ineffectively, 
the  local  politics.  We  have  here  a  very  lofty  type  of  woman- 
hood, with  which  one  may  well  contrast  even  the  best  woman- 
hood produced  by  Athens  in  the  days  of  her  greatest  glory. 

It  is  easy  for  the  Christian  to  criticize  as  defective  the  ethics 
of  the  Proverbs.  "Courage,  fortitude,  moderation  in  thought, 
self-sacrifice,  mtellectual  truthfulness,  are  not  mentioned. 
Nothing  is  said  about  international  ethics."  In  its  prudential 
morality,  the  book  is  distinctly  ante-Christian.  It  has  also 
been  noticed  that  its  studies  are  all  in  whites  and  blacks, 
rather  than  grays.  Our  great  problems  concern  the  grays. 
The  strenuous  ethical  code  of  Kipling's  "If"  is  not  for  the 
writers  of  the  Proverbs.  The  great  life  of  Brooks  or  of  Mott 
would  not  be  set  on  fire  by  their  words.  At  the  same  time 
the  book  presents  a  code  of  ethics  emphatically  nobler  than 
that  dominant  in  America  before  the  Great  War,  though  men 
had  had  opportunity  to  study  it  for  2,200  years.  The  motives 
to  conduct  are  often  self-centered,  but  the  conduct  counseled 
approaches  the  ideal. 

Aside  from  their  ethical  value,  the  Proverbs  are  of  great 
interest  as  revealing  to  us  the  life  and  thought  of  the  average 
God-fearing  Jew  of  the  Greek  period,  the  man  who  seldom 
or  never  asked  "ultimate  questions,"  who  knew  little  of  the 
agony  and  the  glory  of  the  prophet  and  the  poet,  who  cared 
little  for  the  elaborate  ceremonies  of  the  priest,  but  who  tried 
to  do  his  work  well  to  the  glory  of  God. 

•  Our  writers  walk  in  quiet  fields,  in  the  land  of  homely 
duties  and  common  courtesies,  fields'  safely  walled  off  from 
the  precipices  of  vice,  remote  as  well  from  the  Himalaya 
heights  of  vision  and  adventure. 

President  King  calls  our  attention  to  a  character  in  one  of 
Norman  Duncan's  stories,  who,  speaking  of  his  childhood 
and  his  mother,  says : 

"She  took  me  in  her  lap. 

'Look  into  your  mother's  eyes,  lad,'  she  said,  'and  say 
after  mc  this  :  "My  mother"  ' — 

'Aly  mother,'  I  repeated,  very  solemnly. 

446 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD   [XXII-7] 

'  "Looked  upon  my  heart"  ' — 
'Looked  upon  my  heart,'  said  L 
*  "And  found  it  brave"  ' — 
'An'  found  it  brave' — 
'  "And  sweet"  ' — 
'An'  sweet' — 

'  "Willing  for  the  day's  work"  ' — 
'Willing  for  the  day's  work' — 
'  "And  harboring  no  shameful  hope"  ' — 
'An'  harboring  no  shameful  hope' — 

Again  and  again  she  had  me  say  it,  until  I  knew  every  word 
by  heart. 

'Ah,'  she  said  at  last,  'but  you'll  forget' 
'No,  no !'  I  cried.    'I'll  not  forget' 

'  "My  mother  looked  upon  my  heart," '  I  rattled,  '  "an' 
found  it  brave  and  sweet,  willing  for  the  day's  work  an' 
harboring  no  shameful  hope."  I've  not  forgot,  I've  not  for- 
got' 

'He'll  forget,'  she  whispered,  but  not  to  me,  'like  all  chil- 
dren.' 

But  I  have  never  forgotten — that,  when  I  was  a  child,  my 
mother  looked  upon  my  heart  and  found  it  brave  and  sweet, 
willing  for  the  day's  work,  and  harboring  no  shameful  hope." 

Could  the  Proverbs  speak  in  the  tones  and  terms  of  the 
tv/entieth  century,  they  would  bring  us  some  such  message, 
and  seek  from  us — children  all — some  such  response. 

Twenty-second  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

6.  The  Song  of  Solomon,  Love-Lvrics  of  Israel 

The  Proverbs  remind  us  that  all  the  people  of  the  later 
days  of  Judaism  were  not  great  saints  or  great  doubters. 
There  were  thousands  of  people  who  did  not  think  very  much, 
who  did  not  sink  to  the  depths  or  rise  to  the  heights.  But 
God  loved  them,  "or  he  wouldn't  have  made  so  many  of 
them."  They  tried  to  keep  out  of  debt,  to  teach  their  children 
a  trade ;  they  lived  a  clean  and  decent  life,  with  simple 
pleasures,  small  excursions,  honest  joys.  A  glimpse  of  this 
life  of  the  common  people,  probably  in  the  earlier  days  of  the 
Greek  period,  we  get  in  the  Song  of  Songs,  or  Canticles. 

447 


[XXII-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

The  Jewish  doctors  at  Jamnia  found  in  the  Song  an  alle- 
gory. The  early  Christian  scholars  shared  their  belief.  The 
headings  of  the  pages  of  the  Song  in  our  Authorized  Version 
would  constrain  to  a  like  interpretation,  which  leads  to  ab- 
surdity. Some  scholars  find  in  the  Song  a  drama,  with  a 
charming  plot.^ 

More  probably  we  have  in  the  Song  a  group  of  rather 
loosely  connected  lyrics,  such  as  were  sung  alternately  by 
bridegroom  and  bride  in  the  course  of  the  eight  days  of  the 
wedding  feast.  In  this  "king's  week,"  as  it  was  called,  the 
bridegroom  now  and  then  posed  as  royalty,  and  his  humble 
comrades  were  his  courtiers.  In  one  guise  and  another  the 
bridegroom  sang  the  praises  of  his  bride,  and  the  bride 
answered  back  with  eulogies  upon  her  beloved  (See  Song 
of  Sol.  8:6,  7). 

No  great  battles  of  men  or  ideas  here;  just  ordinary — yet 
how  extraordinary — human  love  and  longing  and  marriage 
and  home.  Are  not  these,  too,  worth  treasuring  in  thought? 
Was  not  Jesus  one  day  to  enter  with  his  own  transfiguring 
grace  the  marriage  feast? 

"The  lord  of  our  hearts,  of  our  homes. 
Of  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  needs; 
The  brother  of  want  and  blame, 
The  lover  of  women  and  men. 
With  a  love  that  puts  to  shame 
All  passions  of  mortal  ken." 
—Richard  Watson  Gilder,  "The  Passing  of  Christ." 

Concluding  Note 

Unless  a  Jew  lived  in  a  vacuum,  he  could  not  escape  the 
"free  and  exhilarating"  atmosphere  of  the  Greek  civilization, 
which,  with  Alexander,  swept  over  Palestine.  Men  of  pro- 
phetic spirit  rightly  feared  the  influence  of  the  new  culture. 
From  the  days  of  Amos  the  higher  faith  of  the  Hebrews 
had  been  characterized  by  something  of  the  stern  and  lofty 

^  Griffis,  "Lily  among  Thorns.'' 

448 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD   [XXII-7] 

quality  of  the  mountain  and  the  desert.  Ivory  couches  and 
secular  music  and  wine  and  rationalistic  argument  tended  to 
the  ungirt  life.  Few  are  the  voices  of  prophecy  which  we 
hear  in  the  Greek  period,  and  those  to  which  we  have  listened 
sing  of  Jewish,  namely  Jehovah's,  domination  over  the  Gen- 
tiles or  their  destruction.  We  have  heard,  in  our  study  of 
Esther,  the  voice  of  nationalism,  redeemed  from  unworthiness 
by  its  fine  heroism  and  its  confidence  in  the  high  destiny  of 
the  Jew.  In  Ecclesiastes  we  have  heard  a  brave  man,  who 
tried  to  adjust  himself  to  this  new  Greek  world;  who  be- 
lieved that  God  was  in  his  heaven,  but  as  surely  believed  that 
all  was  wrong  with  the  world. 

"For  the  world,  which  seems 
To  lie  before  us  like  a  land  of  dreams, 
So  various,  so  beautiful,  so  new, 
Hath  really  neither  joy,  nor  love,  nor  light, 
Nor  certitude,  nor  peace,  nor  help  for  pain ; 
And  we  are  here  as  on  a  darkling  plain 
Swept  with  confused  alarms  of  struggle  and  flight, 
Where  ignorant  armies  clash  by  night." 

— Matthew  Arnold,  "Dover  Beach." 

In  the  Chronicles  we  have  listened  to  the  voice  of  faith, 
which  has  looked  upon  the  successes  and  the  sufferings  of 
Judah  to  find,  almost  too  easily,  a  perfect  vindication  of  the 
justice  and  the  goodness  of  God.  The  Proverbs  and  the 
Song  of  Solomon  have  permitted  us  to  hear  echoes  of  the 
city  and  village  thought  and  life,  voices  of  the  wisdom  and 
the  gaiety  of  the  common  lot.  And  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
voices — of  faith,  and  nationalism,  of  doubt  and  duty  and  love 
— carried  by  the  airs  of  the  Greek  culture,  we  seem 

"To  hear  a  Heavenly  Friend, 
And  thro'  thick  veils  to  apprehend 
A  labor  working  to  an  end." 

We  are  not  able,  perhaps,  to  mark  any  great  advance  in 
religious  thinking  in  our  period,  but  one  leaves  its  study  with 
many    messages    of    value    to    character    and    conduct.      Our 

449 


[XXII-q]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

study  brings  to  us  this  reflection :  How  wonderful  was  God's 
confidence  in  the  httle,  beaten,  broken  people  of  the  Jews, 
that  he  dared  trust  to  them  his  supreme  self-revelation.  And 
how  wonderful,  too,  was  the  Jewish  faith  in  God,  a  faith 
which  was  not  lost,  was  not  defeated,  but  rose  triumphant  in 
the  very  midst  of  the  welter  of  the  new  ideas,  new  customs, 
new  sins  of  the  Greek  world. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  What  would  you  expect  to  be  the  influence  of  Jewish 
colonies  upon  Jerusalem  and  of  Jerusalem  upon  the  colonies? 

2.  Can  you  conceive  how  a  genuine  prophet  could  proclaim 
the  doom  of  all  Gentiles? 

3.  What  elements  of  strength  and  weakness  would  you 
expect  to  find  in  a  Jewish  faith  nourished  by  the  book  of 
Esther  ? 

4.  Have  you  found  any  cure  for  fear?   (See  Esther). 

5.  Have  you  ever  met  a  man  who  resembles  Ecclesiastes? 
Does  a  man  of  Ecclesiastes'  mood  and  temper  "see  things 
steadily  and  see  them  whole"?  How  would  you  try  to  cure 
a  modern  Ecclesiastes? 

6.  li  Ecclesiastes  had  been  assured  of  immortality,  would 
he  have  been  made  strong  and  efficient?  Isaiah  did  not 
apparently  know  of  immortality.  Contrast  the  Chronicler's 
viewpoint  with  that  of  Ecclesiastes. 

7.  Marie  Bashkirtseff,  in  her  journal,  writes,  "It  is  the  New 
Year.  At  the  theater,  precisely  at  midnight,  watch  in  hand, 
I  wish  my  wish,  in  a  single  word,  intoxicating,  whether  it  be 
written  or  spoken,  Fame."  Compare  and  contrast  this  wish 
with  the  wish  for  Wisdom. 

8.  How  would  you  try  to  teach  a  Hindu  student  to  find 
Wisdom? 

9.  Romanes,  called  "the  greatest  Darwinian  since  Darwin," 
writes:  "Nothing  is  so  inimical  to  Christian  belief  as  unchris- 
tian conduct.  This  is  especially  the  case  as  regards  impurity, 
for  whether  the  fact  be  explained  on  religious  or  non-religious 

450 


JUDAISM  IN  THE  GREEK  PERIOD  [XXII-q] 

grounds,  it  has  had  more  to  do  with  unbelief  than  has  the 
speculative  reason."  Do  you  believe  that  impurity  tends  to 
unbelief,  and  that  purity  of  life  leads  to  faith?    If  so,  why? 

10.  Have  you  any  plans  for  increasing  the  number  of  "the 
middle  class"? 


451 


CHAPTER  XIII 

'^The  Daybreak  Calls" 

Heroisms  and  Hopes  of  the  Maccabean  and 

Hasmonean  Periods 

(168-38  B.  C.) 

Introductory 
Twenty-third  Week,  First  Day. 

The  Ptolemies  had  been  fairly  lenient  in  their  treatment  of 
the  Jews,  but  when  Antiochus  III  with  his  Syrians  supplanted 
the  rule  of  Egypt  in  198  B.  C.  he  was  joyfully  welcomed  to 
Jerusalem.  All  hopes  of  lighter  taxes  and  greater  liberties 
soon  faded.  In  175  B.  C.  Antiochus  IV,  who  styled  himself 
God  Manifest,  came  to  the  throne  and  set  out  with  the  definite 
purpose  to  Hellenize  his  entire  empire. 

Before  noting  the  insane  activities  of  this  man  it  may  be 
well  to  glance  at  a  book,  belonging  probably  to  the  first 
quarter  of  the  second  century,  which,  while  not  in  the  Bible 
of  the  Protestant  Church,  was  held  in  high  repute  among  the 
early  Christians,  and  is  today  found  in  the  so-called  Apoc- 
rypha. This  book,  variously  called  Ecclesiasticus,  Wisdom 
of  Sirach,  or  Ben-Sira,  is  the  work  of  a  widely  traveled  and 
widely  interested  Jew,  who  wrote  down  in  philosophic  mood 
his  observations  on  life.     Says  an  historian : 

"If  we  would  know  what  a  cultured,  liberal,  and  yet  genuine 
Jew  had  thought  and  felt  in  view  of  the  great  questions  of 
the  day;  if  we  would  gain  insight  into  the  state  of  public 
opinion,  morals,  society,  and  even  of  manners  at  that  period — 
we  find  the  materials  for  it  in  the  book  Ecclesiasticus." 

The  writer  is  a  warm  patriot,  and  cherishes  the  hope  that 

452 


"THE  DAYBREAK  CALLS"  [XXIII-i] 

all  Israel  shall  yet  live  in  unity  and  prosperity.  He  is  an 
eager  lover  of  the  temple;  he  glories  in  the  richness  of  the 
priestly  robes  and  the  glad  songs  of  the  singers.  He  lives 
generally  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  book  of  Proverbs,  but  he 
has  been  more  deeply  affected  by  the  life  of  the  Greeks.  In 
one  of  his  most  famous  passages  he  writes  in  praise  of 
physicians,  whose  profession  was  regarded  with  little  respect 
by  certain  religionists  who  believed  alone  in  "divine  healing" : 

"Cultivate  the  physician  in  accordance  with  the  need  of 

him, 
For  him  also  hath  God  ordained.  .  .  . 
God  hath  created  medicines  out  of  the  earth, 
And  let  not  a  discerning  man  reject  them." 

He  has  been  touched,  too,  by  the  cynicism  of  Ecclesiastes. 
He  has  no  sympathy  with  those  eager  souls  who  have  begun 
to  tell  men  of  a  resurrection,*  and  an  after-life  of  reward  and 
punishment.  Sheol  is  the  fate  of  all  men  ;  but  he  does  hope 
for  the  immortality  of  his  good  name.  He  has,  perhaps,  a 
thought  of   the   immortality  of   influence,  a   hope   of  joining 

"the  choir  invisible 
Of  those  immortal  dead,  who  live  again 
In  minds  made  better  by  their  presence, 
.  .  .  the  choir  invisible, 

Whose  music  is  the  gladness  of  the  world." 
He  writes : 

"For  the  memorial  of  virtue  is  immortal; 
Because  it  is  known  with  God  and  with  man. 
When  it  is  present,  men  take  example  by  it; 
And  when  it  is  gone,  they  desire  it : 
And  throughout  all  time  it  marcheth  crowned  in  triumph, 
Victorious  in  the  strife  for  the  prizes  that  are  undefiled."* 

It  is  good  to   remember  this   wise,  aristocratic,  but  kindly 
man  who  realizes  that  without  the  humble  handworkers 

"shall  not  a  city  be  inhabited. 
Nor  shall  men  sojourn  or  go  up  and  down  therein. 
For  these  maintain  the  fabric  of  the  world, 
And  in  the  handiwork  of  their  craft  is  their  prayer." 


Quoted  from  "The  Soul  of  the  Bible,"  p.  290. 

453 


[XXIII-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

And  as  we  make  our  way  into  the  terrible  and  heroic  period 
of  the  Maccabees,  we  may  well  take  his  word  as  the  motto 
of  the  story: 

"Fight  for  the  right  until  death, 
And  the  Lord  will  fight  for  thee." 

Antiochus  IV  made  the  Jewish  high-priesthood  a  plaything 
for  graft  and  death.  He  removed  Onias  from  the  ofHce,  and 
gave  it  to  Jason,  who  eagerly  cooperated  in  the  task  of  Hel- 
lenizing  and  heathenizing  his  people.  Jason  went  so  far  as  to 
send  Jewish  funds  to  Tyre  for  the  celebration  of  the  sacrifices 
to  Heracles.  But  Antiochus  was  always  in  need  of  money, 
and  neither  had  nor  desired  any  conscience;  accordingly  he 
gave  the  high-priesthood  to  a  higher  bidder,  Menelaus. 

Jerusalem  has  seldom  been  quite  free  from  traitors  who 
would  murder  her,  from  pseudo-patriots  who  would  curry 
favor  with  her  conquerors.  When  on  December  i8,  1914,  the 
Turkish  holy  flag  entered  Jerusalem  to  proclaim  a  holy  war 
upon  all  Christians,  Jews  constructed  an  arch  bearing  two 
shields,  with  Hebrew  legends.  One  read,  "Long  Live  the 
Ottoman  Army."  The  other  read,  "Blessed  is  he  that  cometh 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  We  bless  you  out  of  the  house  of 
the  Lord."-  Thus  to  our  own  day  Jews  have  been  found  in 
the  holy  city  who  have  kissed  the  sword  that  would  slay 
them,  and  degraded  the  faith  by  which  their  nation  lives. 

The  rumor  spread  that  Antiochus  had  died  while  on  an 
expedition  to  Egypt.  Jason  thought  he  saw  a  chance  of  win- 
ning back  his  authority,  and  by  a  surprise  attack  seized  Jeru- 
salem. Antiochus  came  to  life  somewhat  prematurely,  hur- 
ried in  uncontrollable  rage  to  Jerusalem,  gave  over  the 
wretched  citizens  to  massacre,  robbed  the  tem.ple  of  its  treas- 
ures, and  left  in  control  of  the  city  and  of  the  Syrian  garri- 
son an  official  of  exceptional  brutality.  In  168  B.  C.  Anti- 
ochus again  turned  his  cruel  attention  to  Judah.  He  sent  a 
revenue  officer  with  an  army  of  22,000  men  "with  instructions 


Kemper  FuUerton. 

454 


"THE  DAYBREAK  CALLS"  [XXIII-2] 

to  exterminate  the  Jewish  people,  and  to  colonize  the  city  with 
Greeks."  Thousands  were  killed.  Many  found  refuge  in 
the  villages  and  in  the  fierce,  friendly  wilderness.  The  Syrians 
forbade  on  pain  of  death  all  Jewish  customs  and  rites — Sab- 
bath observance,  circumcision,  the  reading  of  the  law,  the 
performance  of  sacrifice.  Festivals  of  Bacchus  were  insti- 
tuted in  the  towns,  and  the  Jews  were  compelled  to  participate 
in  the  celebrations.  They  were  also  made  to  eat  swine's 
flesh.  In  December,  168  B.  C,  "upon  the  altar  of  burnt  offer- 
ing a  smaller  altar"  was  built,  dedicated  to  Olympian  Zeus, 
and  the  profanation  of  the  temple  was  completed  by  the 
sacrifice  of  a  sow  to  the  Greek  deity.  Heathen  orgies  were 
carried  on  in  the  temple  courts. 

And  one  can  almost  hear  today  the  jeers  of  the  fashionable 
debauchees,  who  inquire  of  the  Jews :  "Where  is  now  this 
God  of  yours,  who  was  to  care  for  his  temple  and  his  chosen 
ones?"  Now  at  last  must  faith  in  Jehovah  perish  from  the 
earth !     But  this  faith  takes  an  unconscionable  time  in  dying. 

Twenty-third  Week,  Second  Day. 

Seldom  in  human  history  has  there  been  seen  such  an 
exhibition  of  the  triumph  of  the  human  spirit  as  that  which 
we  now  study.  Jerusalem  meant  more  to  the  Jew  than  did 
Athens  to  the  Greek,  than  did  Rome  to  the  Roman.  The 
walls  of  his  city  were  torn  down,  an^  he  was  banished  from 
his  home,  which  now  some  Greek  or  some  apostate  occupied. 
The  temple,  the  center  of  his  religious  thought  and  hope, 
was  polluted  by  the  grossest  heathen  sacrilege.  But  again 
men  sprang  to  their  feet,  "caught  at  God's  skirts,  and  prayed." 
Mattathias,  a  hero  of  the  strictest  faith,  gathered  about  him 
a  group  of  those  who  dared  all  for  their  God  and  their  people. 
At  first,  the  devotees  of  the  Law  refused  to  fight  on  the  Sab- 
bath ;  but  after  a  bloody  defeat  due  to  this  refusal,  they  were 
induced  by  Mattathias  to  fight  on  the  Sabbath  in  self-defense. 
The  hero's  death  brought  his  great  son  Judas  Maccabeus  to 
the  leadership  of  the  seemingly  forlorn  hope.     The  fugitives 

455 


[XXIII-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

established  at  Mizpah  the  best  possible  imitation  of  the  old 
Jerusalem  ritual.  Harrying  the  Syrians  by  surprise  attacks, 
Judas  gathered  numbers  and  strength.  One  victory  after 
another  led  him  back  to  Jerusalem,  which  he  entered  in  165 
B.  C,  there  to  reestablish  the  worship  of  Jehovah  precisely 
three  years  after  the  defilement  of  the  temple. 

I.    Daniel:  Old  Heroes,  New  Hopes 

From  the  tragic  years  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  probably 
from  the  year  165  B.  C,  there  has  come  down  to  us  the  book 
of  Daniel. 

Consider  again  the  situation :  the  temple  profaned ;  the  city 
walls  leveled  to  the  ground ;  the  city  itself  thronged  with 
Greeks  and  apostates,  who  burned  incense  before  their  doors ; 
Greek  customs  in  fashion ;  a  Greek  gymnasium  hard  by  the 
temple;  the  daily  murder  of  devotees  of  the  Lav/;  the  daily 
destruction  of  books  of  the  Law  wherever  found :  every 
earthly  inducement  to  surrender  a  faith,  adherence  to  which 
meant  misery  or  death.  One  thinks  of  the  heroic  Chinese 
victims  of  the  Boxer  outrages,  but  the  Jews  represented  not 
only  a  loftier  religion  but  a  loftier  civilization  than  the 
Boxers.  One  thinks  of  the  heroic  Armenian  victims  of 
Turkish  atrocities ;  but  these  knew  that  their  culture  as  well 
as  their  religion  was  loftier  than  that  of  their  persecutors. 
The  persecutors  of  the  Jews  represented  a  civilization  whose 
culture,  whose  libraries,  whose  art  and  architecture,  whose 
commerce,  whose  gaiety,  might  well  stifle  faith  and  lure  to 
apostasy. 

It  was  apparently  to  meet  this  situation  that  the  author  of 
Daniel  told  his  stories  of  the  ancient  heroes  and  his  visions 
of  the  present  and  of  the  days  to  come. 

Twenty-third  Week,  Third  Day, 

a.  Daniel  and  His  Friends. 

Read  Dan.   i   to  3,  stories  of  victors  ''in  the  strife   for  the 
prizes  that  are  undefiled." 

456 


"THE  DAYBREAK  CALLS"  [XXIII-3] 

The  first  six  chapters  of  the  book  are  occupied  with  Daniel 
and  his  friends.  In  exile,  far  from  Jerusalem,  these  young 
heroes  still  purpose  in  their  hearts  that  they  will  not  defile 
themselves  with  the  king's  dainties ;  that  they  will  be  true  to 
the  Law,  with  reference  to  clean  and  unclean  meats  (i  :8-i6). 
Their  heroic  fidelity  to  the  Law  and  its  reward  would  preach 
a  fine  sermon  of  constancy  to  the  young  men  who  were  now 
victims  of  Antiochus,  with  his  swine's  flesh  and  heathen 
allurements.  Conquering  the  heathen  in  the  realm  of  ma- 
terial things,  Daniel  conquers  in  the  realm  of  divine  mysteries 
(Chapters  2  and  5).  Like  Joseph  in  the  earlier  days,  Daniel 
masters  the  insoluble  problem  of  the  soothsayers  and  unlocks 
the  secret  of  the  king's  dream,  or  again  the  meaning  of  the 
handwriting  on  the  wall.  So  would  the  writer  bid  his  readers 
take  courage.  All  the  vaunted  learning  and  religious  lore  of 
Greece  are  foolishness  in  the  face  of  the  wisdom  which  the 
God  of  heaven  gives  to  the  faithful. 

Daniel's  friends  meet  the  question :  "Will  you  serve  the 
image  which  the  king  commands  you  to  worship?"  And  the 
answer  comes  back  swift  and  straight  as  an  arrow  to  its 
mark :  "Our  God  whom  we  serve  is  able  to  deliver  us  from 
the  burning  fiery  furnace;  and  he  will  deliver  us  out  of  thy 
hand,  O  king.  But  if  not,  be  it  known  unto  thee,  O  king, 
that  we  will  not  serve  thy  gods,  nor  worship  the  golden  image 
which  thou  hast  set  up"  (3:  17,  18).  And  the  glorious  words, 
"But  if  not,"  challenge  the  poor  and  tempted  Jews,  who 
wonder  whether  after  all  it  would  be  such  a  serious  matter 
to  burn  incense  to  Zeus  or  to  pour  out  libations  to  Bacchus. 
Life  is  very  sweet  even  to  the  miserable. 

Again,  the  narrative  shows  us  Daniel  facing  a  test  not 
unlike  that  met  by  the  three  friends  ;  but  the  question  is  not : 
"Will  you  worship  other  gods?"  but  "Will  you  persist  in  the 
worship  of  your  own  God,  the  God  of  Israel?"  And  Daniel 
has  his  answer  ready.  Men  are  just  outside  his  window  eager 
to  see  him  cast  into  the  den  of  lions;  but  he  flings  open  his 
window  toward  Jerusalem  and  prays  to  his  God  as  at  other 
times.     And  one  sees  the  little  groups  of   nameless   fighters 

457 


[XXIII-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

gathering  around  Judas  Maccabeus  in  the  chill  night  air  of 
the  wilderness,  to  hear  the  story  of  Daniel,  and  to  warm 
their  hearts  at  the  flames  of  his  defiant  deathless  fidelity, 
and  to  make  ready  for  their 

"rendezvous  with  Death 
At  some  disputed  barricade." 

b.  History  and  Hope. 

With  Chapter  7  the  writer  passes  from  stories  to  visions. 
In  these  visions,  four  world-empires  are  again  and  again 
referred  to.  Probably  the  author  had  in  mind  the  Babylonian, 
the  Median,  the  Persian,  and  finally  the  Greek.  The  ten 
kings  rising  from  the  fourth  kingdom  apparently  include 
Alexander  himself  and  his  nine  successors  in  the  Syrian 
portion  of  the  realm.  In  elaborate  detail  Antiochus  Epiphanes 
the  tyrant  is  described.  He  is  the  one  who  speaks  words 
against  the  Most  High,  wears  out  the  saints  of  the  Most  High, 
and  thinks  to  change  the  times  and  the  law  (7:25).  He,  too, 
is  the  little  horn,  which  waxes  great  even  to  the  host  of 
heaven  ;  who  takes  away  the  continual  burnt  offerings,  and 
casts  truth  down  to  the  earth  (8:9-12).  In  Chapter  11,  as 
the  author  portrays  in  veiled  language  the  story  of  the  years, 
he  comes  down  again  to  his  own  day  and  pictures  his  op- 
pressor, the  blasphemous,  infamous  Antiochus. 

And  the  king  shall  do  according  to  his  will;  and  he 
shall  exalt  himself,  and  magnify  himself  above  every 
god,  and  shall  speak  marvellous  things  against  the 
God  of  gods;  and  he  shall  prosper  till  the  indignation 
be  accomplished;  for  that  which  is  determined  shall 
be  done.  Neither  shall  he  regard  the  gods  of  his 
fathers,  nor  the  desire  of  women,  nor  regard  any  god; 
for  he  shall  magnify  himself  above  all.  But  in  his  place 
shall  he  honor  the  god  of  fortresses  ;  and  a  god  whom 
his  fathers  knew  not  shall  he  honor  with  gold,  and 
silver,  and  with  precious  stones  and  pleasant  things. 
And  he  shall  deal  with  the  strongest  fortresses  by  the 
help  of  a  foreign  god:  whosoever  acknowledgeth  him  he 
will   increase  with  glory;  and  he  shall   cause  them   to 

458 


"THE  DAYBREAK  CALLS"  [XXIII-4] 

rule  over  many,  and  shall  divide  the  land  for  a  price. — 
Dan.  II  :  36-39. 

The  worst  charge  against  him  is  that  he  profanes  the  sanc- 
tuary and  establishes  heathen  worship  at  Jehovah's  altar, 
"And  forces  shall  stand  on  his  part,  and  they  shall  profane 
the  sanctuary,  even  the  fortress,  and  shall  take  away  the 
continual  burnt-offering,  and  they  shall  set  up  the  abomina- 
tion that  maketh  desolate"  (11 :  31). 

Twenty-third  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

But  just  when  you  look  to  see  our  author  and  his  faith 
collapse,  you  see  him  put  his  trumpet  to  his  lips,  and  hear  him 
sound  the  note  of  triumph  over  despots  and  heathenism  and 
death. 

In  one  of  the  earlier  chapters,  he  has  already  given  a  noble 
description  of  the  abiding  kingdom  of  Jehovah. 

And  in  the  days  of  those  kings  shall  the  God  of 
heaven  set  up  a  kingdom  which  shall  never  b'e  destroyed, 
nor  shall  the  sovereignty  thereof  be  left  to  another 
people ;  but  it  shall  break  in  pieces  and  consume  all  these 
kingdoms,  and  it  shall  stand  for  ever.  Forasmuch  as 
thou  sawest  that  a  stone  was  cut  out  of  the  mountain 
without  hands,  and  that  it  brake  in  pieces  the  iron,  the 
brass,  the  clay,  the  silver,  and  the  gold ;  the  great  God 
hath  made  known  to  the  king  what  shall  come  to  pass 
hereafter:  and  the  dream  is  certain,  and  the  interpreta- 
tion thereof  sure. — Dan.  2:44,  45. 

And  now,  in  vision,  he  sees  the  judgm.ent  proceeding  in 
the  high  court  of  heaven.  The  books  are  opened.  The  beast- 
empires,  which  ruled  by  force,  have  their  dominion  taken 
away ;  "but  their  lives  were  prolonged  for  a  season  and  a 
time"  (7:12).  Then  into  the  presence  of  the  Ancient  of 
Days  comes  one  like  unto  a  son  of  man,  impersonating  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High  (7:22). 

I  saw  in  the  night-visions,  and,  behold,  there  came 
with  the  clouds  of  heaven  one  like  unto  a  son  of  man, 
and  he  came  even   to   the  ancient  of   days,   and   they 

459 


[XXIII-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

brought  him  near  before  him.  And  there  was  given  him 
dominion,  and  glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that  all  the 
peoples,  nations,  and  languages  should  serve  him :  his 
dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  which  shall  not 
pass  away,  and  his  kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be 
destroyed.  ...  I  beheld,  and  the  same  horn  made  war 
with  the  saints,  and  prevailed  against  them;  until  the 
ancient  of  days  came,  and  judgment  was  given  to  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High,  and  the  time  came  that  the 
saints  possessed  the  kingdom. — Dan.  7:  13,  14,  21,  22. 

To  him  is  given  an  everlasting  dominion,  a  kingdom  that 
shall  not  be  destroyed.  From  the  unequal  contest  which  Judas 
Maccabeus  and  his  friends  are  waging,  the  seer  looks  up  to 
behold  the  day  when  the  kingdom  of  the  human — to  him  the 
kingdom  of  faithful  Israel — shall  triumph  over  the  beastly, 
brutal  kingdoms.  The  Christian  world  has  seen  in  our  Master 
the  very  incarnation  of  the  faithful,  the  ideal,  Israel,  and 
finds  among  the  most  precious  titles  of  our  Lord,  the  Son 
of  Man,  who  wins  his  universal  and  eternal  kingdom  by  grace 
and  truth,  and  holds  in  thrall  the  brute. 

As  our  writer  is  absolutely  sure  of  the  triumph  of  the 
Cause,  he  is  equally  sure  of  the  triumph  of  the  individual 
servant  of  the  Cause.  The  book  of  Daniel  gives  to  us  the 
most  radiant  picture  of  the  resurrection  and  the  eternal  life 
to  be  read  in  the  Old  Testament.  No  longer  is  Sheol  a  dusty 
realm  of  shades,  the  end  of  all  who  live.  Many  of  those 
who  sleep  in  the  dust  shall  awake,  and  while  some  are  doomed 
to  everlasting  contempt,  some  shall  rise  to  "everlasting  life" 
(12:2).     The  author  was  one  of  those, 

"to  whom  was  given 
The  joy  that  mixes  earth  with  Heaven: 

Who,  rowing  hard  against  the  stream, 
Saw  distant  gates  of  Eden  gleam, 
And  did  not  dream  it  was  a  dream; 

But  heard,  by  secret  transport  led, 
Even  in  the  charnels  of  the  dead. 
The  murmur  of  the  fountain-head." 

460 


"THE  DAYBREAK  CALLS"  [XXIII-4] 

In  his  book,  "Facts  and  Comments,"  Herbert  Spencer  says: 
"It  seems  a  strange  and  repugnant  conclusion  that,  with  the 
cessation  of  consciousness  at  death,  there  ceases  to  be  any 
knowledge  of  having  existed."  Spencer  lived  his  quiet,  kindly, 
comfortable  life  in  his  beautiful  England.  How  strange  and 
repugnant  must  have  seemed  the  thought  of  Sheol  to  those 
heroes  who  faced  daily  death  for  their  faith  in  a  universal 
God  of  power  and  justice  and  love!  They  could  not  have 
held,  or  at  any  rate  vindicated  to  themselves,  their  faith 
which  facts  laughed  down,  had  not  the  light  of  Jehovah 
shined  upon  them;  and  in  that  light  they  saw  the  glory  of 
the  future  world.  In  that  future  world,  they  were  assured, 
each  man's  character  would  be  revealed  and  each  man  would 
go  to  his  own  place.  "They  that  are  wise  shall  shine  as  the 
brightness  of  the  firmament ;  and  they  that  turn  many  to 
righteousness  as  the  stars  forever  and  ever"   (12:3). 

The  book  of  Daniel  was  never  counted  by  the  Jews  among 
the  prophetical  works.  But  "Dr.  Westcott  has  pronounced 
that  no  writing  in  the  Old  Testament  had  so  great  a  share 
in  the  development  of  Christianity  as  the  book  of  Daniel." 
Its  immediate  purpose  was  fulfilled  years  ago.  Those  who 
try  to  make  the  visions,  with  their  words  concerning  times 
and  seasons,  fit  specific  events  of  our  own  day  are  following 
a  will  o'  the  wisp  which  has  led  multitudes  of  readers  away 
into  dismal  swamps  of  error.  But  whoever  tries  to  pray  may 
learn  from  Daniel  a  beautiful  lesson  in  prayer  (see  especially 
9:  17-19).  Whoever  has  to  fight  for  his  own  faith  or  that  of 
his  brothers,  whoever  has  to  stand  by  principles  which  simply 
amuse  other  men,  will  read  the  book  and  find  iron  passing 
into  his  own  blood.  As  a  man  closes  the  book,  he  seems  to 
hear  again  the  word  of  Ben-Sira : 

"Fight  for  the  right  until  death, 
And  the  Lord  will  fight  for  thee." 

Rather  he  hears  old  Greatheart  speak  once  more : 

"My  sword  I  give  to  him  that  shall  succeed  me  in  my 
pilgrimage,  and  my  courage  and  skill  to  him  that  can  get  it. 

461 


[XXIII-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

My  marks  and  scars  I  carry  with  me  to  be  a  witness  for 
me  that  I  have  fought  His  battles,  who  shall  now  be  my 
rewarder." 


Twenty-third  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

Historical  Note 

Before  his  death,  i6o  B.  C,  Judas  Maccabeus  had  won 
complete  religious  liberty  for  his  people.  Simon,  who  came 
to  the  high-priesthood  in  143-142  B.  C,  became  King  of  the 
Jews  "in  all  but  name."  In  138  B.  C.  Simon  received  the 
right  "to  coin  money  for  his  country  with  his  own  dies." 
"Simon's  dynasty  received  the  name  Hasmonean,  derived  from 
Hashmon,  the  great-grandfather  or  grandfather  of  Matta- 
thias."  John  Hyrcanus,  135-104  B.  C,  made  large  additions 
to  the  Jewish  territory,  but  left  it  to  his  son  Aristobulus  to 
assume  the  name  of  king.  Alexander  Jannaeus,  the  son  of 
Aristobulus,  was  a  "brilliant  drunkard,"  who  disgraced  both 
his  titles,  King  and  High-Priest.^  After  some  decades  of 
petty  squabbles  between  religious  and  political  parties,  Rome 
saw  her  chance.  Pompey  sided  with  one  of  the  conflictin;^' 
parties,  and  finally  in  63  B.  C,  on  a  Sabbath,  took  the  city, 
forced  his  way  to  the  temple  mount,  massacred  the  priests 
as  they  performed  their  sacrifices,  and  is  said  to  have  slain 
12,000  Jews. 

Pompey  permitted  the  high-priesthood  to  be  retained  by  the 
Hasmonean  family,  but  the  civic  administration  he  turned  over 
to  a  Roman.  When  Pompey  returned  to  Rome  for  his 
"triumph,"  there  were  captive  Jews  in  his  train.  The  last 
representative  of  the  old  Maccabean  family  was  killed  in 
37  B.  C,  and  "Herod  became  King  of  the  Jews  in  fact,  as 
well  as  by  title  of  the  Roman  authority"— Herod,  who  was  to 
rebuild  the  temple  in  which  the  child  Jesus  would  one  day 
talk  with  the  doctors;  Herod,  whose  ancestors  of  Edom 
were   the   hiss   and   the   by-word   of   the    Hebrew   prophets; 

j^"*",^!'!^^  accounts  of  period,  see  G.  A.  Smith.  "Jerusalem."  vol.  I,  p.  404flf. 
and  vol.  II.  p.  437ff.;  also  Streane.  "Age  of  the  Maccabees." 

462 


"THE  DAYBREAK  CALLS"  [XXIII-5] 

Herod,  of  whom  it  was  said,  "It  is  better  to  be  Herod's  swine 
than  his  son." 

2.    The  Apocalyptic  Literature 

During  the  two  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  apoc- 
alyptic Hterature,  of  which  we  have  seen  an  illustration  in 
the  visions  of  the  book  of  Daniel,  came  to  its  abundant  fruit- 
age. And  this  literature  furnished  the  seed  of  much  of  the 
thought  of  the  New  Testament  and  later  Christian  times.  The 
popular  belief  of  the  period  was  that  prophecy  was  dead. 
The  past,  therefore,  came  to  be  idealized  and  the  Scriptures 
to  be  sedulously  studied.  While  monotheism  was  securely 
established,  God  himself  was  pushed  far  away  from  ordinary 
life.  As  men  were  excluded  from  their  old-time  fellowship 
with  God,  mediating  spirits — angels  bad  and  good — were  in- 
troduced, who  hindered  or  helped  men  and  nations  in  their 
courses.  The  frightful  experiences  of  war  and  persecution ; 
the  apparent  helplessness  of  men  in  the  grip  of  world  forces ; 
the  sordid  quarrels  of  the  priestly  party,  who  sought  Jewish 
independence,  with  the  legalistic  party,  who  were  content  with 
religious  liberty  and  hated  the  political  assumptions  of  the 
priests — all  these  factors  led  earnest  men  to  cry,  "How  long, 
O  Lord,  how  long?  Shall  the  words  of  godly  men  and  the 
ways  of  God  never  be  justified  by  the  event?  Are  all  our 
former  hopes  but  withered  dreams?"  To  this  situation  the 
apocalyptic,  or  revealing,  literature  addressed  itself. 

Scholars  call  our  attention  to  several  characteristics  of  this 
literature : 

First,  it  brings  its  messages  under  the  protection  of  some 
great  name  of  the  past— for  only  so  could  the  authors  get  a 
hearing. 

Second,  it  writes  history  as  prophecy. 

Third,  it  claims  supernatural  revelation. 

Fourth,  its  interests  are  supramundane — that  is,  of  the  world 
beyond  the  present  world  of  time  and  space. 

At   first   we  are   repelled,   or   morbidly   attracted,    by   this 

463 


[XXIII-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

literature,  which  frequently  is  to  us  alien  and  unintelligible. 
But  we  are  called  back  to  its  study  by  the  words  of  a  great 
scholar :  "We  are  now  in  a  position  to  prove  that  these  two 
centuries  (the  last  two  before  Christ)  were  in  some  respects 
centuries  of  greater  spiritual  progress  than  any  two  that 
had  preceded  them  in  Israel.'" 

In  this  literature  we  discover  the  various  currents  of  thought 
which  we  have  learned  in  our  previous  studies  to  distinguish. 
We  see,  for  example,  the  traces  of  the  "conflict  between  na- 
tionalism and  universalism,  that  finally  results  in  the  divorce 
between  Judaism  and  Christianity," 

Twenty-third  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

Thus,  in  the  "Book  of  Jubilees"  (135-104  or  60  B.  C.  ?), 
we  have  the  most  bigoted  emphasis  upon  ritual,  ihe  book 
is  the  very  quintessence  of  that  legalism  which  a  century  later 
our  Lord  attacked.  It  tells  us  that  circumcision  is  an  eternal 
covenant,  "observed  by  the  two  highest  orders  of  angels,  and 
that  every  Israelite  who  is  not  circumcised  on  the  eighth  day 
belongs  to  the  children  of  destruction."  On  the  Sabbath  one 
mu.st  not  light  a  fire,  or  ride  a  beast,  or  draw  water,  or  travel 
by  ship,  or  carry  any  burden.  The  violation  of  any  of  these 
prohibitions  is  death.  Indeed  one  dare  not  even  talk  on  the 
Sabbath  concerning  an  intended  journey. 

This  emphasis  upon  legalism  implies,  of  course,  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  Gentiles  from  salvation  in  the  present  and  the 
future  world.  A  woman  who  marries  a  heathen  must  be 
burned,  and  a  man  who  gives  his  daughter  or  sister  in  mar- 
riage to  a  heathen  must  be  stoned  to  death. 

Other  writings  of  the  period,  notably  the  "Book  of  Enoch," 
express  the  confident  hope  that  the  Gentiles  will  be  converted 
to  Jehovah. 

While  the  Old  Testament  writers  looked  forward  to  the 
establishment  of  the  glorious   future  kingdom  on  this  earth, 

*  R.  H.  Charles.  "Religious  Development  between  the  Old  and  the  New 
Testaments,     a  small     but  valuable  volume. 

464 


"THE  DAYBREAK  CALLS"  [XXIII-6] 

the  apocalyptic  writers  worked  away  from  this  thought.  From 
this  sad  and  seemingly  hopeless  world  they  began  to  look  to 
the  world  of  spirits.  When  the  Greek  Socrates  was  asked, 
"Where  shall  the  ideal  community  be  found?"  he  replied  sadly, 
"Perhaps  in  heaven."  So  we  find  our  writers  turning  more 
and  more  toward  heaven  as  their  dearest  country.  "The 
eternal  Messianic  kingdom  can  attain  its  consummation  only 
in  the  world  to  come,  into  which  the  righteous  should  enter 
through  the  gate  of  resurrection." 

The  Messiah  does  not  often  appear  as  an  important  factor 
in  the  Messianic  kingdom  of  the  apocalyptic  writers ;  but  in 
"Enoch"  we  have  a  picture  of  a  heavenly  Messiah,  who  bears 
such  titles  as  Christ,  or  the  Anointed  One,  the  Righteous  One, 
the  Elect  One,  the  Son  of  Man.    We  read : 

"And  there  I  saw  one  who  had  a  head  of  days 
And  his  head  was  white  like  wool, 
And   with   him  was   another  being  whose  countenance 

had  the  appearance  of  a  man. 
And  his  face  was  full  of  graciousness  like  one  of  the 

holy  angels." 

Again : 

"On  that  day  Mine  Elect  One  shall  sit  on  the  throne 

of  glory, 
And  shall  try  their  works. 
And  their  places  of  rest  shall  be  innumerable." 

Again : 

"And  he  sat  on  the  throne  of  his  glory, 
And  the  sum  of  judgment  was  given  unto  the  Son  of 

Man, 
And  he  caused  the  sinners  to  pass  away  from  off  the 

face  of  the  earth. 
And  those  who  have  led  the  world  astray."^ 

It  was  the  high  task  of  our  writers  to  carry  to  its  legitimate 
goal  the  emphasis  of  later  prophetic  thought  upon  the  indi- 
vidual, to  insist  upon  his  priceless  worth  to  God,  his  destiny 


5  R.  H.  Charles,  "Religious  Development  between  the  Old  and  the  New 
Testaments,"  p.  85. 


[XXIII-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

as  the  heir  of  eternal  Hfe  in  the  eternal,  heavenly  kingdom  of 
God.  Often,  though  not  always,  the  individual  in  the  mind 
of  the  writer  was  the  devout  Jew.  Apostates  and  heathen 
were  worthy  victims  of  everlasting  torment.  The  doctrine 
of  the  love  of  God  was  not  carried  to  its  inevitable  con- 
clusions. 

But  as  we  turn  from  this  literature,  which  did  not  find  its 
way  into  our  Bible,  but  which  profoundly  influenced  the 
writers  of  the  New  Testament  and  the  Christians  of  the  early 
centuries,  we  may  pause  to  listen  to  these  words  of  the  "Book 
of  Enoch" : 

"For  that  Son  of  Man  has  appeared, 
And  seated  himself  on  the  throne  of  his  glory, 
And  all  evil  shall  pass  away  before  his  face, 
And  the  word  of  that  Son  of  Man  shall  go  forth 
And  be  strong  before  the  Lord  of  Spirits." 

Twenty-third  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

3.    The  Wisdom  of  Solomon 

As  the  last  century  before  Christ  brought  no  fulfilment  of 
prophetic  hopes,  as  Rome  with  law  and  legions  succeeded 
Greece  with  her  culture,  multitudes  must  have  thought  the 
visions  of  the  apocalyptic  writers  purely  visionary,  must  have 
shared  the  skepticism  and  the  hopelessness  of  Ecclesiastes. 
But  from  this  last  century  before  Christ  comes  a  stirring 
voice  of  protest  against  the  skepticism,  materialism,  and  even 
idolatry,  which  threatened  to  strangle  the  Jewish  faith.  The 
peril  was  felt  very  keenly  in  Egypt,  where  a  brutal  persecution 
had  arisen.  The  writer  living  in  Egypt  would  bring  to  us, 
as  over  against  the  false  attitude  of  Ecclesiastes,  the  true 
wisdom  of  Solomon. 

He  hears  the  wicked  say: 

"Short  and  sorrowful  is  our  life. 

And  there  is  no  remedy  when  a  man  cometh  to  his  end, 
And  none  was  ever  known  that  returned  from  Hades. 
Because  by  mere  chance  were  we  born. 
And  hereafter  we  shall  be  as  though  we  had  never  been. 

466 


"THE  DAYBREAK  CALLS"  [XXIII-7] 

Come,  therefore,  and  let  us  enjoy  the  good  things  that 

now  are ; 
And  let  us  use  creation  with  all  earnestness  as  youth's 

possession. 
Let  us  fill  ourselves  with  costly  wines  and  perfumes ; 
And  let  no  flower  of  spring  pass  us  by. 
Let    us    crown    ourselves    with    rosebuds,    before    they 

wither, 
And    let    there   be    no    meadow    without   traces   of    our 

proud  revelry."" 

But  he   reminds  the  wicked  and  the   friends  of  God  alike 
that  the  ungodly  shall  come, 

"When  their  sins  are  reckoned  up,  with  coward  fear ; 
And    their   lawless    deeds    shall   convict   them    to    their 
face." 

On   the   other   hand   there   are  "wages   of   holiness,"   and    "a 
prize  for  blameless  souls." 

"The  righteous  live  forever, 
And  in  the  Lord  is  their  reward, 
And  the  care  of  them  with  the  Most  High ; 
Therefore  shall  they  receive  the  crown  of  royal  dignity, 
And  the  diadem  of  beauty  from  the  Lord's  hand; 
Because  with  his  right  hand  shall  he  cover  them. 
And  with  his  arm  shall  he  shield  them." 

Thus  did  the  writer  face  the  enemies  of  his   faith,  sure  that 
as  God  dooms  the  wrong  he  loves  and  lifts  the  right. 


Conclusion 

The  story  of  the  earlier  Maccabees  is  one  of  almost  un- 
matched heroism.  The  later  history  of  the  family  is  sordid 
and  tawdry.'  But  the  old  heroism  of  faith  did  not  die  out 
of  Israel  in  the  days  of  misery. 

"Life  may  be  given  in  many  ways. 
And  loyalty  to  Truth  be  sealed 
As  bravely  in  the  closet  as  the  field. 
So  bountiful  is  Fate." 


6W.  O.  E.  Oesterley,  "The  Books  of  the  Apocrypha,"  p.  470. 
467 


[XXIII-q]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

This  loyalty  the  writers  of  our  period  knew.  In  their 
assurance  of  an  after-life  of  reward  and  retribution,  in  their 
conviction  of  a  heavenly  kingdom  ever  hovering  above  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world,  in  their  certainty  of  the  priceless  value 
of  the  individual,  they  helped  to  prepare  the  way  of  their 
unknown  Lord  and  to  make  his  paths  straight. 

"Through  such  souls  alone 
God  stooping  shows  sufficient  of  His  light 
For  us-i'  the  dark  to  rise  by." 

QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  What  would  you  expect  the  influence  of  a  brutal,  Hel- 
lenizing  king  to  be  upon  the  various  elements  of  Jewish  life? 

2.  How  was  the  book  of  Daniel  calculated  to  oppose  success- 
fully the  Hellenizing  work  of  Antiochus  IV? 

3.  Would  you  expect  apocalyptic  writings  to  perform  any 
permanent  and  valuable  service? 

4.  A  while  ago  a  man  distributed  a  pamphlet,  with  this 
heading,  "Doom,  Doom,  Doom.  New  York  City  to  Be 
Destroyed."  Why  were  not  people  interested  and  influenced 
by  the  message? 

5.  The  hope  of  a  blessed  immortality  flamed  into  glorious 
conviction  in  the  times  when  the  Jews  were  at  the  lowest- 
depths  of  misery.     How  would  you  account  for  the  fact? 

6.  Emerson  said  of  the  English,  "They  see  most  clearly  on 
a  cloudy  day."  Would  you  think  that  this  optimism  in  a 
dark  environment  was  due  to  faith  or  to  temperament? 

7.  If  you  had  been  a  Jew  in  the  days  of  Antiochus,  would 
you  have  joined  in  the  celebration  of  the  feast  of  Bacchus, 
or  would  you  have  tried  to  escape  to  Judas  Maccabeus?  Ac- 
count for  your  answer. 

8.  If  you  regarded  a  law — for  instance,  that  of  Sabbath 
observance — as  divinely  imposed,  would  you  think  that  you 
might  break  it  in  order  to  save  your  life  or  your  country? 


468 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Songs  of  the  Centuries 

Introductory 

Twenty-fourth  Week,  First  Day. 

If  one  would  understand  the  religious  life  of  America  to- 
day, one  would  go  first  not  to  the  books  of  theology  or  to  the 
sermons  of  great  present-day  preachers.  He  might  go  first 
to  the  personal  correspondence  of  our  period.  Failing  that, 
he  would  turn  to  the  hymns  which  no  compiler  of  a  hymn 
book  would  dare  to  omit :  for  example',  "My  faith  looks  up 
to  Thee,"  "How  firm  a  foundation,  ye  saints  of  the  Lord." 
"The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war,"  "O  Master,  let  me  walk 
with  Thee."  He  could  not  invariably  prove  that  the  theology 
or  the  imagery  of  the  hymns  expresses  the  actual  religious 
thought  of  our  time ;  but  he  could  be  sure  that  these  hymns 
express  the  loftiest  religious  convictions,  experiences,  aspira- 
tions, hopes  of  the  American  people  of  our  time. 

If  one  would  understand  the  actual  religious  life  of  the 
Jewish  community  at  its  best,  one  must  turn,  not  to  the  law, 
nor  to  the  prophets,  nor  to  the  sages,  but  to  the  Psalms. 

One  has  said,  "The  Psalms  are  the  real  heart  of  the  Old 
Testament." 

And  another  adds,  "The  Psalter  through  the  centuries  has 
been  and  will  ever  continue  to  be  the  one  unique,  inexhaustible 
treasury  of  devotion  for  the  church  and  for  the  individual." 

How  wonderful  it  is  that  when  a  man  or  a  church  wishes 
to  express  the  supreme  desires  and  devotions  of  life,  the 
language  is  almost  invariably  that  of  the  Psalms — a  little 
book  written   in  a  tiny  province  of  a  great  empire,  by   men 

469 


[XXIV-2J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

long  dead,  in  a  language  now  "dead."  When  the  religious 
musician  would  marry  his  own  noblest  music  to  the  noblest 
words,  it  is  noteworthy  that  he  almost  always  chooses  the 
woriis  from  the  Psalter. 

In  the  hours  of  their  loftiest  exaltation  and  of  their  deepest 
grief,  earth's  noblemen  have  found  inspiration  in  the  Psalms. 
"What  a  wonderful  story  they  could  tell,  if  we  could  gather 
it  all  from  lonely  chambers,  from  suffering  sick-beds,  from 
the  brink  of  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  from  scaffolds 
and  from  fiery  piles !"  The  Psalms  are  "the  perfection  of 
lyric  poetry" ;  but  this  would  not  immortalize  them.  "The 
hopes  and  fears  of  all  the  years,"  the  faith  which  is  the 
victory  overcoming  the  world,  find  in  the  Psalms  their  great 
literary  expression.  And  we  have  made  no  adequate  study 
of  the  Psalms  until  we  have  studied  their  achievements  in 
subsequent  history.  More  than  any  other  pre-Christian  litera- 
ture they  have  helped  men  to  beat  to  death  the  devils  of  doubt 
and  discouragement,  to  rise  triumphant  over  pain  and  poverty 
and  death.  They  have  helped  to  keep  alive  in  the  world  the 
consciousness  of  the  presence  of  God  in  nature,  in  history, 
and  in  personal  life,  even 

"When  the  sky  which  noticed  all  makes  no  disclosure. 
And  the  earth  keeps  up  her  terrible  composure." 

In  the  Psalms,  as  in  a  sanctuary,  one  learns,  understands,  and 
trusts. 

Twenty-fourth  Week,  Second  Day. 

The  book  of  Psalms,  as  we  now  have  it,  is  made  up  of 
collections  compiled  at  various  times  in  the  course  of  the 
centuries.  The  titles  and  circumstances  assigned  by  the 
Psalter  itself  to  some  of  the  Psalms  indicate  an  early  tradi- 
tion of  no  special  value.  "It  cannot  certainly  be  proved  that 
David  wrote  any  Psalms;  the  probability  is  that  he  wrote 
many.  It  is  not  likely  that  all  of  these  are  lost."  Some 
Psalms  definitely   refer  to  situations  which   did  not  exist   in 

470 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES       [XXIV-3] 

the  Davidic  days.  As  shrewd  sayings  were  assigned  to 
Solomon,  so  the  songs  were  given  the  name  of  the  sweet 
singer  of  Israel   (Cf.  p.  432). 

We  will  not  use  the  Psalms  to  illustrate  the  religious  think- 
ing of  different  periods.  Some  writers  would  throw  many 
of  the  Psalms  into  the  age  of  the  Maccabees ;  others  would 
date  many  of  them  in  the  days  of  the  pre-exilic  monarchy. 
Of  course  Psalms  which  speak  of  exile,  and  of  the  ruined  and 
profaned  temple,  must  be  pushed  down  into  the  Babylonian, 
the  Persian,  or  perhaps  sometimes  into  the  Maccabean  period. 
Psalms  which  glory  in  the  Law,  and  in  the  Messiah,  are 
almost  certainly  not  the  product  of  the  life  before  the  Exile. 
Psalms  which  speak  of  God  as  the  king  of  all  the  earth, 
which  dwell  upon  the  transfiguration  of  nature,  which  speak, 
though  in  uncertain  tones,  of  a  faith  in  immortality — these 
are  almost  surely  post-exilic.  It  is  probable  that  most  of  the 
Psalms  were  written  before  the  end  of  the  Persian  period. 
But  in  this  closing  chapter  we  will  not  attempt  to  decide 
questions  of  dates.  We  prefer  to  enjoy  the  language,  the 
thought,  the  faith  of  the  Psalms. 

Twenty-fourth  Week,  Third  Day. 

In  Hebrew  poetry  the  lines  are  characterized  by  tones  or 
beats  recurring  with  a  certain  regularity,  but  usually  also  by 
what  is  called  parallelism.  In  synonymous  parallelism,  practi- 
cally the  same  idea  is  expressed  in  consecutive  lines  : 

Let  us  break  their  bonds  asunder, 

And  cast  away  their  cords  from  us. — Psalm  2:3. 

In  antithetic  parallelism,  consecutive  lines  express  a  contrast: 

For  Jehovah  knoweth  the  way  of  the  righteous ; 
But  the  way  "of  the  wicked  shall  perish.— Psalm  1:6. 


A  soft  answer  turneth  away  wrath; 

But  a  grievous  word  stirreth  up  anger.— Prov.  15:  i. 

471 


[XXIV-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

In   synthetic   parallelism,   the   second   line   "in    different   ways 
supplements  or  completes"  the  thought : 

In  the  day  of  my  trouble  I  will  call  upon  thee; 
For  thou  wilt  answer  me. — Psalm  86 :  7. 

Of  the  original  couplet  there  are  all  sorts  of  expansion. 
Now  we  have  the  triplet,  now  the  quatrain;  out  of  this  grows 
the  stanza  or  strophe. 

Sometimes  the  strophe  is  bounded  by  some  great  sentence, 
for  example: 

O  Jehovah,  our  Lord, 

How  excellent  is  thy  name  in  all  the  earth  1 

—Psalm  8:  I,  9. 

Sometimes  the  stanza  begins  with  a  question,  the  question 
is  answered,  and  the  last  line  gathers  up  the  whole  thought 
into  itself,  as : 

Who  shall  sojourn  in  thy  tabernacle?  .  .  . 

He  that  doeth  these  things  shall  never  be  moved. 

— Psalm  15. 

The  antistrophic  structure  is  common.  Thus  one  stanza 
reveals  one  aspect  of  truth,  the  second  its  complementary 
aspect.  Sometimes  the  Psalms,  like  other  poems  of  the  Old 
Testament,  are  acrostic;  for  example,  Psalm  119.  In  such 
Psalms,  we  have  sometimes  both  lines  of  one  couplet  intro- 
duced by  the  same  letter  of  the  alphabet,  and  sometimes  as 
many  as  eight  lines  so  introduced. 

Our  present  book  of  Psalms  is  divided  into  five  books, 
possibly  to  correspond  with  the  five  books  of  the  Pentateuch. 

"Speaking  broadly  and  generally,"  the  Psalms  of  Book  I 
(1-41)  are  personal;  those  of  Books  II  and  III  (42-72  and 
73-89)  are  national;  and  those  of  Books  IV  and  V  (90-106 
and  107-130)  are  liturgical,  pertaining  primarily  to  public 
worship.^ 

We  must  remember  that  often  when  the   Psalm  uses  the 


1  See  H.  B.  D.,  Psalms. 

472 


SONGS  OF  Tim  CllNTURIES       [XXIV-4] 

word   ■'!"  the  writer   speaks   for  the  community   ratlier   than 
for  the  individual. 

Twenty-fourth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

I.  Book  I :  Duty,  Danger,  and  the  Great  Deliverer 

Read,  in  addition  to  the  Psahns  discussed  in  text,  Psahns 
24,  27,  29,  30,  31,  2>2„  34,  36,  and  37— revelations  of  the 
heart  of  the  religious  Hebrew,  and  songs  which  have  spoken 
and  still  speak  their  "messages  to  religious  men. 

In  Book  I  (1-41)  the  psalmists  speak  now  apparently  for 
themselves,  and  now  for  Israel.  They  are  frequently  in 
the  presence  of  their  enemies,  but  they  are  also  in  the  presence 
of  Jehovah,  a  God  who  makes  all  things — even  the  wrath  of 
men — to  serve  the  highest  interests  of  his  friends.  The  title 
suggested  inadequately  expresses  the  thought  of  many  of 
these  Psalms.  The  thought  of  the  book  is  crystallized  in 
words  which  may  serve  as  its  motto : 

I  waited  patiently  for  Jehovah  ; 

And  he  inclined  unto  me,  and  heard  my  cry. 

He  brought  me  up  also  out  of  a  horrible  pit,  out  of  the 

miry  clay  ; 
And  he  set  my  feet  upon  a   rock,  and  established  my 

goings. 
And  he  hath  put  a  new  song  in  my  mouth,  even  praise 

unto  our  God : 
Many  shall  see  it,  and  fear. 
And  shall  trust  in  Jehovah.— Psalm  40:  1-3. 

We  select  certain  typical  Psalms,  which  may  lead  to  further 
personal  study : 

Psalm  I  describes  the  happy  man.  He  neither  ivalks  in 
the  counsel  of  the  ungodly,  nor  stands  in  the  way  of  sinners, 
nor  sits  in  the  seat  of  the  scoffers.  Rather,  he  delights  in  and 
meditates  on  the  law  of  Jehovah,  the  Mosaic  Law.  which  in 
the  later  days  became  to  the  Jew  the  treasure-house  of  all 
truth,  of  all  religion. 

Passing  to  Psalm  4,  we  have  an  evening  prayer.    The  writer 

473 


[XXI V-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

is  surrounded  by  enemies.  He  quiets  himself  by  meditation, 
sacrifice,  and  trust.  Gladness  follows  gloom,  peace  comes  in 
the  sleep  which  God  gives  and  guards.  We  read  that  as 
Luther  prepared  for  death,  he  found  the  last  verse  of  this 
Psalm  becoming  more  dear  to  him : 

In  peace  will  I  both  lay  me  down  and  sleep ; 
For  thou,  Jehovab,  alone  makest  me  dwell  in  safety. 

—Psalm  4 : 8. 

Psalm  5  is  a  morning  hymn.  From  its  third  verse  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  got  the  motto  for  its 
"Morning  Watch" : 

O  Jehovah,  in  the  morning  shalt  thou  hear  my  voice; 
In  the  morning  will  I  order  my  prayer  unto  thee,  and 
will  keep  watch. 

May  we  add  three  quotations? 

"The  desire  to  pray  is  prophetic  of  a  heavenly  Friend." 
"The  conscious  person  is  continuous  with  a  wider  self, 

through  which  saving  experience  comes." 
"Prayer  opens  a  door  into  a  larger  life." 

Psalm  8  has  been  finely  styled,  "Man,  the  Viceroy  of  God." 

O  Jehovah,  our  Lord, 

How  excellent  is  thy  name  in  all  Ae  earth, 

Who  hast  set  thy  glory  upon  the  heavens ! 

Out  of   the   mouth   of   babes   and   sucklings   hast  thou 

established  strength, 
Because  of  thine  adversaries, 

That  thou  mightest  still  the  enemy  and  the  avenger. 
When  I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers, 
The  moon  and  the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained ; 
What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him? 
And  the  son  of  man,  that  thou  visitest  him? 
For  thou  hast  made  him  but  little  lower  than  God, 
And  crownest  him  with  glory  and  honor. 
Thou  makest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the  works  of 

thy  hands ; 
Thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet: 

474 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES       [XXIV-s] 

All  sheep  and  oxen, 

Yea,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field. 

The  birds  of  the  heavens,  and  the  fish  of  the  sea, 

Whatsoever  passeth  through  the  paths  of  the  seas. 

O  Jehovah,  our  Lord, 

How  excellent  is  thy  name  in  all  the  earth !— Psalm  8. 

The  psalmist  considers  the  excellence  of  the  character  of 
God  as  revealed  in  the  heavens,  and  thinks  of  the  lips  of  child- 
hood which  can  silence  Jehovah's  adversaries;  he  marvels 
at  the  littleness  and  the  greatness  of  Man:  Man,  who  seems 
to  be  the  creature  of  a  day,  God  has  appointed  ruler  over  all 
His  creation,  made  him  indeed  but  a  little  lower  than  God 
himself. 

The  great  enemy  which  keeps  a  man  from  his  regal  charac- 
ter is  fear.  Psalm  ii  deals  with  the  Conquest  of  Fear.  The 
foundations  reel.  What  can  the  righteous  do?  God's  in  his 
heaven.  The  wicked  shall  perish.  "The  upright  shall  behold 
his  face."  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  was  no  plaster  saint,  but 
she  did  not  lack  courage.  We  are  told  that  as  she  went  to 
the  block,  she  drove  fear  from  her  heart  by  repeating  this 
Psalm. 


Twenty-fourth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

As  we  ask  the  qualities  of  the  man  worthy  to  be  God's 
viceroy,  we  find  one  answer  in  Psalm  15,  entitled  "The  Guest 
of  God."  Nothing  is  said  of  this  man's  observance  of  ritual; 
much  is  said  of  his  daily  conduct: 

He  that  walketh  uprightly,  and  worketh  righteousness, 

And  speaketh  truth  in  his  heart; 

He  that  slandcreth  not  with  his  tongue, 

Nor  doeth  evil  to  his  friend, 

Nor  taketh  up  a  reproach  against  his  neighbor; 

In  whose  eyes  a  reprobate  is  despised. 

But  who  honoreth  them  that  fear  Jehovah; 

He  that  sweareth  to  his  own  hurt,  and  changeth  not ; 

He  that  putteth  not  out  his  money  to  interest. 

Nor  taketh  reward  against  the  innocent. — Psalm  15:  2-5. 

475 


[XXI V-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

To  the  psalmist  God's  holy  hill  was  very  dear,  more  dear  than 
to  the  great  prophets  Amos  and  Isaiah.  But  he  knows,  as 
did  they,  that  character,  not  ceremony,  gives  a  man  standing 
with  God. 

Passing  for  the  moment  Psalm  i6  (see  p.  505),  we  turn 
to  Psalm  18,  which  has  been  frequently  attributed  by  scholars 
to  David.  It  is  a  glorious  Psalm,  but  it  reveals  a  self-com- 
placency in  God's  man,  the  regal  man,  which  is  quite  charac- 
teristic of  the  earlier  piety  but  is  alien  to  the  prophet  who 
said  that  God  dwells  with  him  who  is  of  a  humble  and  a 
contrite  spirit.  The  psalmist  has  been  down  in  the  lowest 
depths. 

The  cords  of  Sheol  were  round  about  me ; 
The  snares  of  death  came  upon  me   (verse  5). 

In  answer  to  the  psalmist's  prayer,  Jehovah  descended,  the 
earth  trembled,  he  bowed  the  heavens  and  came  down ; 

And  he  rode  upon  a  cherub,  and  did  fly ; 

Yea,  he  soared  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind  (verse  10). 

The  foundations  of  the  world  were  laid  bare,  and  all  for  the 
sake  of  Jehovah's  loved  one. 

He  sent  from  on  high,  he  took  me ; 

He  drew  me  out  of  many  Avaters  (verse  16). 

Now  why  does  Jehovah  startle  and  shake  the  very  universe? 

He  delivered  me,  because  he  delighted  in  me. 

Jehovah  hath  rewarded  me  according  to  my  righteous- 
ness ; 

According  to  the  cleanness  of  my  hands  hath  he  recom- 
pensed me  (verses  19,  20). 

The  man  was  perfect  with  God,  kept  himself  from  iniquity, 
and  according  to  the  cleanness  of  his  hands  in  Jehovah's  eye- 
sight, Jehovah  paid  him.  The  writer,  speaking  for  his  people, 
talks  of  pursuing,  overtaking,  smiting  the  enemy.  He  has 
had  a  tremendous  and  true  experience  of  divine  deliverance. 
But  he  has  never  seen  God  as  Isaiah  saw  him ;  nor  is  he  able 

476 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES       [XXIV-5] 

to  look  into  the  face  of  the  Christ  who  should  come,  in  whose 
presence  a  man's  one  word  is  this:  "Depart  from  me,  for  I 
am  a  sinful  man,  O  Lord." 

As  we  ask  of  the  life  experiences  o!  those  who  are  worthy 
to  be  viceroys  of  God,  guests  of  God,  we  come  upon  Psalm  22. 

My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me? 

Why  art  thou  so   far  from  helping  me,  and   from  the 

words  of  my  groaning? 
O  my  God,  I  cry  in  the  day-time,  but  thou  answerest 

not; 
And  in  the  night  season,  and  am  not  silent. 
But  thou  art  holy, 

0  thou  that  inhabitest  the  praises  of  Israel. 
Our  fathers  trusted  in  thee  : 

They  trusted,  and  thou  didst  deliver  them. 
They  cried  unto  thee,  and  were  delivered : 
They  trusted  in  thee,  and  were  not  put  to  shame. 
But  I  am  a  worm,  and  no  man  ; 
A  reproach  of  men,  and  despised  of  the  people. 
All  they  that  see  me  laugh  me  to  scorn : 
They  shoot  out  the  lip,  they  shake  the  head,  saying, 
Commit  thyself  unto  Jehovah;  let  him  deliver  him: 
Let  him  rescue  him,  seeing  he  delightcth  in  him. 
But  thou  art  he  that  took  me  out  of  the  womb  ; 
Thou    didst    make    me    trust    when    I    was    upon    my 
mother's  breasts. 

1  was  cast  upon  thee  from  the  womb ; 
Thou  art  my  God  since  my  mother  bare  me. 
Be  not  far  from  me;  for  trouble  is  near; 
For  there  is  none  to  help. 

Many  bulls  have  compassed  me ; 

Strong  bulls  of  Bashan  have  beset  me  round. 

They  gape  upon  me  with  their  mouth. 

As  a  ravening  and  a  roaring  lion. 

I   -^m  poured  out  like  water, 

And  all  my  bones  are  out  of  joint: 

My  heart  is  like  wax; 

It  is  melted  within  me. 

My  strength  is  dried  up  like  a  potsherd ; 

And   my   tongue  cleaveth   to  my  jaws; 

And  thou  hast  brought  me  into  the  dust  of  death. 

For  dogs  have  compassed  me : 

A  company  of  evil-doers  have  inclosed  me; 

They  pierced  my  hands  and  my  feet. 

477 


[XXIV-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

I  may  count  all  my  bones. 
They  look  and  stare  upon  me ; 
They  part  my  garments  among  them, 
And  upon  my  vesture  do  they  cast  lots. 
But  be  not  thou  far*  off,  O  Jehovah : 
O  thou  my  succor,  haste  thee  to  help  me. 
Deliver  my  soul  from  the  sword, 
My  darling  from  the  power  of  the  dog. 
Save  me  from  the  lion's  mouth  ; 

Yea,   from   the  horns   of   the  wild-oxen  thou  hast  an- 
swered me. — Psalm  22:  1-21. 

The  Psalm  is  of  peculiar  interest,  because  "it  is  one  of  the 
most  magnificent  of  the  dramatic  odes,"  and  also  because  it 
was  used  by  Jesus  among  his  last  words  on  the  cross.  The 
writer,  speaking  for  himself  or  for  pious  Israel,  is  crushed 
by  the  enemy.  They  despise  him,  deride  him,  part  his  vesture 
among  them,  like  dogs  "dig  out"  as  it  were  his  very  hands 
and  feet.  But,  worst  of  all,  God  who  used  to  care  and  answer 
— "my  God" — has  apparently  forsaken  him ;  when  suddenly, 
just  as  the  universe  joins  to  crush  him,  deliverance  comes: 
"Yea,  from  the  horns  of  the  wild-oxen  thou  hast  answered 
me."  Then'  the  whole  world  comes  round  to  his  side.  His 
song  of  personal  thanksgiving  is  taken  up  by  the  nations,  and 
the  generations  to  come  shall  hear  and  wonder  and  praise. 

Just  how  did  deliverance  come  to  the  psalmist?  Was  it  a 
deliverance  of  the  spirit  in  the  midst  of  material  defeat? 
Probably  not;  but  this  is  the  kind  of  deliverance  God's  people 
have  often  known.  At  the  stake  John  Huss  declared:  "God 
is  my  witness  that  I  have  never  taught  or  preached  that  which 
false  witnesses  have  testified  against  me.  He  knows  that 
the  great  object  of  all  my  preaching  has  been  to  convert  men 
from  sin.  In  the  truth  of  that  Gospel,  which  hitherto  ]  have 
written,  taught,  and  preached,  I  now  joyfully  die."  This 
"pale,  thin  man  in  mean  attire"  dies  singing,  with  voice  half 
stifled  by  the  smoke,  "Kyrie  Eleison."  When  Jesus  upon 
the  cross  repeated  the  words  of  the  Psalm  as  expressing  his 
sense  of  God-desertion,  or  as  his  comfort  in  the  midst  of 
2  Verses  22-31  may  have  been  originally  a  separate  psalm. 
478 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES       [XXIV-6] 

agony,  God  did  not  rescue  him  from  the  horns  of  the  wild 
oxen,  but  he  answered  him  and  saved  him.  Browning's  tyrant 
speaks : 

"So,  I  soberly  laid  my  last  plan 
To  extinguish  the  man. 
Round  his  creep-hole,  with  never  a  break 
Ran  my  fires  for  his  sake ; 
Over-head,  did  my  thunder  combine 
With  my  underground  mine : 
Till  I  looked  from  my  labour  content 
To  enjoy  the  event. 

When  sudden  .  .  .  how  think  ye,  the  end? 

Did  I  say,  'without  friend'? 

Say  rather,  from  marge  to  blue  marge 

The  whole  sky  grew  his  targe 

With  the  sun's  self  for  visible  boss. 

While  an  Arm  ran  across 

Which  the  earth  heaved  beneath  like  a  breast 

Where  the  wretch  was  safe  pre;^t! 

Do  you  see?     Just  my  vengeance  complete, 

The  man  sprang  to  his  feet, 

Stood  erect,  caught  at  God's  skirts,  and  prayed  I 

— So,  /  was  afraid!" 

Twenty-fourth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

Read,  in  addition  to  Psalms  discussed,  Psalms  42,  43,  48,  56. 
61,  67,  69,  noting  old  and  new  emphases  of  religious  thought. 

As  we  study  Psalms  42  to  72,  we  note  that  the  accent  of 
thought  falls  more  definitely  upon  the  nation  than  upon  the 
individual.  No  title  may  satisfactorily  cover  all  the  messages 
of  the  thirty-one  Psalms.  This  thought,  however,  recurs 
again  and  again  and  may  well  serve  as  the  title  of 

2.     Book  II :  God  the  Righteous  and  Almighty, 
THE  Refuge  of  His  People 
As  the  motto  of  the  book,  we  may  choose  this  : 

God  hath  spoken  once. 

Twice  have  I  heard  this, 

That  power  belongcth  unto  God. 

479 


[XXI V-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Also  unto  thee,  O  Lord,  belongeth  lovingkindness ; 
For  thou  renderest  to  every  man  according  to  his  work. 

— Psalm  62:  II,  12. 

The  psalmists  glory  in  the  thought  of  God  as  the  God  of 
nature, 

Who  by  his  strength  setteth  fast  the  mountains, 

Being  girded  about  with  might : 

Who  stilleth  the  roaring  of  the  seas, 

The  roaring  of  their  waves, 

And  the  tumult  of  the  peoples. 

They  also  that  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  are  afraid 

at  thy  tokens : 
Thou  makest  the  outgoings  of  the  morning  and  evening 

to  rejoice. 
Thou  visitest  the  earth,  and  waterest  it, 
.  Thou  greatly  enrichest  it ; 
The  river  of  God  is  full  of  water: 
Thou  providest  them  grain,  when  thou  hast  so  prepared 

the  earth. 
Thou  waterest  its  furrows  abundantly; 
Thou  settlest  the  ridges  thereof: 
Thou  makest  it  soft  with  showers; 
Thou  blessest  the  springing  thereof. 
Thou  crownest  the  year  with  thy  goodness ; 
And  thy  paths  drop  fatness. 
They  drop  upon  the  pastures  of  the  wilderness; 
And  the  hills  are  girded  with  joy. 
The  pastures  are  clothed  with  flocks  ; 
The  valleys  also  are  covered  over  with  grain  ; 
They  shout  for  joy,  they  also  sing. — Psalm  65:6-13. 

They  have  no  sympathy  with  that  ancient,  and  very  modern, 
thought  of  "a  finite  God.  over  against  huge  semi-evil  or  aim- 
less cosmic  forces." 

To  them  God  is,  as  well,  the  God  of  nations. 

For  Jehovah  Most  High  is  terrible ; 
He  is  a  great  King  over  all  the  earth. 
He  subducth  peoples  under  us, 
And  nations  under  our  feet. 
He  chooscth  our  inheritance  for  us. 
The  glory  of  Jacob  whom  he  loved. 

480 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES       [XXlV-6] 

God  is  gone  up  with  a  shout, 

Jehovah  with  the  sound  of  a  trumpet. 

Sing  praises  to  God,  sing  praises: 

Sing  praises  unto  our  King,  sing  praises. 

For  God  is  the  King  of  all  the  earth: 

Sing  ye  praises  with  understanding. 

God  reigneth  over  the  nations : 

God  sitteth  upon  his  holy  throne. 

The  princes  of  the  peoples  are  gathered  together 

To  be  the  people  of  the  God  of  Abraham; 

For  the  shields  of  the  earth  belong  unto  God: 

He  is  greatly  exalted. — Psalm  47 :  2-9. 

But  God  is  also  righteous ;  and  a  righteous  God  can  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  righteousness.  The  author 
of  Psalm  51  has  none  of  that  self-complacency  which  we 
noted  in  Psalm  18: 

Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God,  according  to  thy  loving- 
kindness  : 

According  to  the  multitude  of  thy  tender  mercies  blot 
out  my  transgressions. 

Wash  me  thoroughly   from  mine  iniquity, 

And  cleanse  me  from  my  sin. 

For  I  know  my  transgressions ; 

And  my  sin  is  ever  before  me. 

Against  thee,  thee  only,  have  I  sinned, 

And  done  that  which  is  evil  in  thy  sight ; 

That  thou  may  est  be  justified  when  thou  speakest, 

And  be  clear  when  thou  judgest. 

Behold,  I  was  brought  forth  in  iniquity ; 

And  in  sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me. 

Behold,  thou  desirest  truth  in  the  inward  parts ; 

And   in   the  hidden  part  thou   wilt  make   me  to  know 
wisdom. 

Purify  me  with  hyssop,  and  I  shall  be  clean : 

Wash  me,  and  I  shall  be  whiter  than  snow. 

—Psalm  51 :  1-7. 

In  some  of  the  Psalms  the  authors  and  their  companions 
are  in  great  misery.  Sometimes  they  are  the  victims  of 
friends  turned  foes. 

For  it  was  not  an  enemy  that  reproached  me; 
Then  I  could  have  borne  it: 

481 


[XXIV-6J  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Neither  was  it  he  that  hated  me  that  did  magnify  him- 
self against  me; 
Then  I  would  have  hid  myself  from  him: 
But  it  was  thou,  a  man  mine  equal, 
My  companion,  and  my  familiar  friend. 
We  took  sweet  counsel  together  ; 
We  walked  in  the  house  of  God  with  the  throng. 

— Psalm  55 :  12-14. 

Now  they  feel  that  God  has  cast  them  off. 

Hast  not  thou,  O  God,  cast  us  off? 

And  thou  goest  not  forth,  O  God,  with  our  hosts. 

— Psalm  60 :  10. 

But  not  often  does  this  mood  prevail.  As  a  rule,  the 
Psalmists  bid  their  friends  to  cast  their  burdens  on  Jehovah. 
He  is  their  high  tower,  their  strength,  their  salvation,  their 
refuge.  Death  will  be  the  shepherd  of  Israel's  enemies,  and 
God  will  root  them  out  of  the  land  of  the  living. 

Among  the  noblest  Psalms  of  Book  H  is  Luther's  favorite, 
the  46th.  It  seems  to  tell  in  a  few  verses  the  story  of  the 
book.  God  himself  is  a  refuge  in  the  earthquake  and  the 
flood.  God's  city  is  at  peace  in  the  midst  of  universal  chaos. 
The  barren  highland-fortress  city  of  Jerusalem  is  without  a 
river.  Oh,  there  is  a  river,  the  river  of  God's  kindness  and 
truth,  whose  streams  make  glad  the  city  of  God!  God  is 
engaged  in  a  great  war  against  war. 

He  breaketh  the  bow,  and  cutteth  the  spear  in  sunder; 

He  burneth  the  chariots  in  the  fire. 

Be  still,  and  know  that  I  am  God. — Psalm  46:9,  10. 

Thus  with  prophetic  vision,  this  singer  of  a  despised  and 
hated  people  sees  his  God  alone,  without  a  rival.  Maker,  De- 
fender, Redeemer,  and  King;  yes,  and  also  a  very  present 
help,  an  easily  accessible  help  in  trouble.  He  is  an  impreg- 
nable city,  "that  can  be  entered  with  a  thought." 

The  faith  of  this  man  "is  not  the  committing  of  one's 
thought  in  assent  to  any  proposition,  but  the  trusting  of  one's 

482 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES       fXXIV-7] 

being  to  a  being,  there  to  be  rested,  kept,  guided,  moulded, 
governed,  and  possessed  forever,"^ 

How  languidly  some  men  discuss  religion,  as  if  God  were 
a  kind  of  uniform  to  be  worn  or  laid  aside  according  to 
convenience  or  prevailing  custom. 

"God — Who  believe  in  God? 
Country  folks  who  live  beneath 
The  shadow  of  the  steeple, 
The  parson  and  the  parson's  wife, 
And  mostly  married  people, 
Youths  green  and  happy  in  first  love 
So  thankful   for  illusion, 
And  men  caught  out  in  what  the  world 
Calls  guilt  in  first  confusion. 
And  almost  everyone  when  age. 
Disease,  or  sorrows  strike  him. 
Inclines  to  think  there  is  a  God, 
Or  something  very  like  him." 

The  strong  and  strength-giving  men  of  the  world  long  for 
a  stronger  One  upon  whose  throne-steps  they  may  kneel  and 
bow  obeisance,  some  Comrade,  in  whose  companionship  they 
may  indeed  be  strong. 

Twenty-fourth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

3.  Book  III :  Sorrow,  Memory,  and  Hope 

Read  without  fail  the  complete  Psalms  from  which  quota- 
tions have  been  made,  and  also  Psalms  76  and  S2,  inquiring 
as  to  the  source  of  the  psalmist's  solemn  trust  in  God. 

In  Psalms  73  to  89  the  thought  of  the  psalmist  is  still 
primarily  upon  the  holy  nation,  or  the  holy  city,  and  its  God. 
As  motto  for  the  book  we  may  read: 

Will  the  Lord  cast  oflf  for  ever? 

And  will  he  be  favorable  no  more? 

Is  his  lovingkindness  clean  gone  for  ever? 

Doth  his  promise  fail  for  evermore? 


3  Horace  Bushnell,  quoted  by  E.  W.  Lyman,  "The  Experience  of  God  in 
Modem  Life,"  p.  I9- 

483 


[XXIV-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Hath  God   forgotten   to  be  gracious? 

Hath  he  in  anger  shut  up  his  tender  mercies? 

And  I  said,  This  is  my  infirmity ; 

But  I  will  remember  the  years  of  the  right  hand  of  the 

Most  High. 
I  will  make  mention  of  the  deeds  of  Jehovah; 
For  I  will  remember  thy  wonders  of  old. 
I  will  meditate  also  upon  all  thy  work, 
And  muse  on  thy  doings. 
Thy  way,  O  God,  is  in  the  sanctuary : 
Who  is  a  great  god  like  unto  God? — Psalm  77:7-13. 


In  most  of  the  Psalms  of  this  group,  the  city  of  God  is 
in  dire  distress  ;  now  enemies  have  set  the  sanctuary  on  fire, 
profaned  the  dwelling-place  of  God's  name,  burned  up  all 
the  places  of  assembly  of  God  in  the  land ;  or  again,  the 
heathen  have  laid  Jerusalem  in  heaps,  and  the  blood  of  God's 
servants  has  been  shed  like  water  round  about  Jerusalem 
(Psalms  74  and  79).  In  the  present  wretchedness,  history 
comes  to  comfort  the  faithful.  So  the  sweet  singers  go  back 
to  the  days  of  old,  the  years  in  which  God  saved,  guided, 
strengthened  his  people.  Surely  experience  may  vindicate 
faith.  Now  they  plead  with  their  companions  of  the  sorrow- 
ful way  to  hearken  unto  their  God.  Again,  very  boldly  they 
plead  with  God  himself.  "Arise,  O  God,  plead  thine  own 
cause"  (74:22,  Cf.  79:10).  And  entreaty  again  and  again 
swings  into  a  beautiful  hope. 

Alercy  and  truth  are  met  together ; 

Righteousness  and  peace  have  kissed  each  other. 

Truth  springeth  out  of  the  earth  ; 

And  righteousness  hath  looked  down  from  heaven. 

Vea,  Jehovah   will  give  that  which  is  good; 

And  our  land  shall  yield  its  increase. 

Righteousness  shall  go  before  him, 

And  shall  make  his  footsteps  a  way  to  walk  in. 

— Psalm  85  :  10-13. 

In  all  of  the  Psalms  of  this  group,  the  temple  is  the  place 
of  Jehovah's  self-revelation.     "His  way  is  hi  the  sanctuary." 

484 


SONGS  OF  THE  CRNTURlliS       [XXIV-7] 

The   mystery   of   suffering   innocence   was   too  great   until   in 
the  sanctuary  the  truth  became  clear: 

Until  I  went  into  the  sanctuary  of  God, 
And  considered  their  latter  end. 
Surely  thou  settest  them  in  slippery  places: 
Thou  castest  them  down  to  destruction. 
How  are  they  become  a  desolation  in  a  moment ! 
They  are  utterly  consumed  with  terrors. 
As  a  dream  when  one  awaketh, 

So,  O  Lord,  when  thou  awakest,  thou  wilt  despise  their 
image. — Psalm  y2>  '•  17-20.'' 

With  exquisite  beauty  the  writer  of  Psalm  84  describes 
the  meaning  of  the  temple  to  him. 

Plow  amiable  are  thy  tabernacles, 

O  Jehovah  of  hosts  ! 

My   soul  longeth,  yea,  even    fainteth   for  the  courts  of 

Jehovah ; 
My  heart  and  my  flesh  cry  out  unto  the  living  God. 
Yea,  the  sparrow  hath  found  her  a  house, 
And  the  swallow  a  nest  for  herself,  where  she  may  lay 

her  young, 
Even  thine  altars,  O  Jehovah  of  hosts. 
My  King,  and  my  God. 
Blessed  are  they  that  dwell  in  thy  house : 
They  will  be  still  praising  thee. 
Blessed  is  the  man  whose  strength  is  in  thee ; 
In  whose  heart  are  the  highways  to  Zion. 
Passing  through  the  valley  of  Weeping  they  make  it  a 

place   of    springs; 
Yea,  the  early  rain  covereth  it  with  blessings. 
They  go  from  strength  to  strength  ; 
Every  one  of  them  appeareth  before  God  in  Zion. 

—Psalm  84:  1-7. 

He  thinks  of  himself  as  an  exile  from  the  holy  city,  and 
congratulates  the  very  sparrow  and  swallow  that  have  found 
lodging  there,  by  the  altars.  Then  he  thinks  of  those  who 
like  himself  are  striving  to  reach  the  city — often  hindered. 
often  diverted— in  their  hearts  the  highways  to  Zion.  And 
he  counts  those  blessed  whose  heart  highways  lead,  not   to 


*  For  further  discussion,  see  p.  506. 

485 


[XXV-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Tyre,  nor  yet  to  Egypt,  but  to  Zion.  For  these  the  valley 
of  weeping  becomes  a  place  of  springs.  These  pass  from 
stronghold  to  stronghold.  Everyone  of  these  appeareth  at 
last  before  God  in  Zion.  "Blessed  are  the  homesick,  for 
they  shall  reach  home."  At  last  their  feet  shall  press  the 
steps  of  the  temple  to  which  they  have  long  been  journeying 
by  the  pilgrim  paths  of  the  heart.  At  last  experience  shall 
catch  up  with  aspiration,  at  last  ideal  and  fact  shall  be  one. 


Twenty-BHh  Week,  First  Day, 

Read  the  noble  Psalms  from  which  quotations  have  been 
made,  and  also  Psalms  95,  96,  and  100,  with  their  indomitable 
"conviction  of  things  unseen." 

4.    Book  IV:  Jehovah's  Reign,  the  World's 
Rejoicing 

With  the  fourth  book  (90  to  106),  we  come  to  Psalms 
which  are  thought  to  have  been  written  especially  for  the 
temple  service. 

As  motto  for  the  book,  we  suggest: 

Jehovah  reigneth ;  let  the  earth  rejoice; 
Let  the  multitude  of  isles  be  glad. 
Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  him : 
Righteousness    and    justice    are    the    foundation   of    his 
throne. — Psalm  97:  i,  2. 

Psalms  90  and  91  are  among  the  most  majestic  expressions 
of  religion  to  be  found  in  literature.  God  has  been  the  dwell- 
ing-place of  his  people  in  all  generations;  and  the  man  who 
dwells  in  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High  is  absolutely  safe. 

In  this  group  of  Psalms  again,  God  is  the  God  of  all  nature, 
and  the  104th  Psalm  sings  gloriously  to  Jehovah,  the  mighty 
God: 

Thou  art  clothed  with  honor  and  majesty: 

Who  coverest  thyself  with  light  as  with  a  garment; 

486 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES         [XXV-i] 

Who  stretchest  out  the  heavens  like  a  curtain  ; 

Who  layeth  the  beams  of  his  chambers  in  the  waters; 

Who  maketh  the  clouds  his  chariot ; 

Who  walkcth  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind; 

Who  maketh  winds  his  messengers; 

Flames  of  fire  his  ministers; 

Who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth, 

That  it  should  not  be  moved  for  ever. 

Thou  coveredst  it  with  the  deep  as  with  a  vesture; 

The  waters  stood  above  the  mountains. 

At  thy  rebuke  they  fled ; 

At  the  voice  of  thy  thunder  they  hasted  away 

(The  mountains  rose,  the  valleys  sank  down) 

Unto  the  place  which  thou  hadst  founded  for  them. 

Thou  hast  set  a  bound  that  tiv-y  may  not  pass  over; 

That  they  turn  not  again  to  cover  the  earth. 

— Psalm  104:  1-9. 

But  the  psalmists  find  their  supreme  happiness  in  the  thought 
that  the  God  who  is  Israel's  home,  and  nature's  creator  and 
ruler,  is  a  God  of  character.  One  beautifully  says:  "1  will 
sing  of  lovingkindness  and  justice"   (loi:  i). 

In  Psalm  103  we  have  a  wonderful  characterization  of  God: 

Who  forgiveth  all  thine  iniquities ; 

Who  healeth  all  thy  diseases ; 

Who  redeemeth  thy  life  from  destruction  ; 

Who    crowneth    thee    with    lovingkindness    and    tender 

mercies  .  .  . 
He  hath  not  dealt  with  us  after  our  sins, 
Nor  rewarded  us  after  our  iniquities. 
For  as  the  heavens  are  high  above  the  earth. 
So  great  is  his   lovingkindness  toward   them   that    fear 

him. 
As  far  as  the  east  is  from  the  west. 
So  far  hath  he  removed  our  transgressions  from  us. 
Like  as  a  father  pitieth  his  children. 
So  Jehovah  pitieth  them  that  fear  him. 
For  he  knoweth  our  frame ; 
He  remembereth  that  we  are  dust. 
As  for  man,  his  days  are  as  grass  ; 
As  a  flower  of  the  field,  so  he  flourisheth. 
For  the  wind  passeth  over  it.  and  it  is  gone; 
And  the  place  thereof  shall  know  it  no  more. 

487 


[XXV-2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

But  the  lovingkindness  of  Jehovah  is  from  everlasting 

to  everlasting"  upon  them  that   fear  him, 
And  his  righteousness  unto  children's  children. 

— Psalm   103:3,  4,    10-17. 

To  this  man,  how  remote  are  all  those  struggles  between 
the  priests  of  the  calves  of  Bethel,  and  Amos  the  prophet  of 
Tekoa.  How  remote  are  those  old  quarrels  between  Jehu 
and  the  Tyrian  baal.     One  thinks  of  Mrs.  Browning: 

"Jove,  that  right  hand  is  unloaded, 
Whence  the  thunder  did  prevail, 
While  in  idiocy  of  godhead 
Thou  art  staring  the  stars  pale ! 
And  thine  eagle,  blind  and  old. 
Roughs  his  feathers  in  the  cold, 
Pan,   Pan  is   dead.  .  .  . 

Gods  bereaved,  gods  belated, 
With  your  purples  rent  asunder  1 
Gods  discrowned  and  desecrated, 
Disinherited  of  thunder ! 
Now,  the  goats  may  climb  and  crop 
The  soft  grass  on  Ida's  top — 
Now,  Pan  is  dead." 

After  reading  this  book,  a  man  turns  back  to  underscore 
with  new  appreciation  the  words  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  its 
verses: 

Light  is  sown   for  the   righteous. 

And  gladness  for  the  upright  in  heart. — P?alm  97:  11. 

Whence  came  the  author's  conception  of  such  a  God?  Do 
you  suppose  that  there  was  no  Reality  producing  within  him 
that  "reality  sense,"  which  in  turn  transfigured  his  life,  and 
made  him  one  of  the  creators  of  the  moral  world  in  which 
we  live? 


Twenty-fifth  Week,  Second  Day. 

5.    Book  V:  Triumph  through  Trust 

Read  the  complete  Psalms  from  which  quotations  have  been 

488 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES         [XXV-2] 

made,  also  Psalms  112,  114,  116,  118,  145,  146,  and  148, 
asking  whether,  in  the  midst  of  personal  or  social  sorrow, 
we  still  have  the  right  to  trust  and  triumph.  Have  we  a 
right  to  radiant  faces  and  lives? 

The  fifth  Book  (107  to  150)  is  itself  composed  of  several 
earlier  collections  of  songs,  of  all  of  which  the  words  of 
Psalm   125:1,  2  may  serve  as  motto: 

They  that  trust  in  Jehovah 

Are  as  mount  Zion,  which  cannot  be  moved,  but  abideth 

for  ever. 
As  the  mountains  are  round  about  Jerusalem, 
So  Jehovah  is  round  about  his  people 
From  this  time  forth  and  for  evermore. 

In  most  of  these  Psalms  the  singers  praise  the  God  who  has 
made  nature  and  history  to  serve  his  beloved  people. 

Oh  that  men  would  praise  Jehovah  for  his  lovingkind- 

ness, 
And  for  his  wonderful  works  to  the  children  of  men  I 
For  he  hath  broken  the  gates  of  brass. 
And  cut  the  bars  of  iron  in  sunder. 

— Psalm  107:  15,  16  (Cf.  Psalm  114  and  others). 

When  there  is  such  a  God  in  the  universe,  how  silly  is  all 
idol  worship  ! 

Their  idols  are  silver  and  gold. 

The  work  of  men's  hands. 

They  have  mouths,  but  they  speak  not ; 

Eyes  have  they,  but  they  see  not ; 

They  have  ears,  but  they  hear  not; 

Noses  have  they,  but  they  smell  not ; 

They  have  hands,  but  they  handle  not; 

Feet  have  they,  but  they  walk  not ; 

Neither  speak  they  through  their  throat. 

They  that  make  them  shall  be  like  unto  them; 

Yea,  every  one  that  trustcth  in  them. 

O  Israel,  trust  thou  in  Jehovah: 

He  is  their  help  and  their  shield.— Psalm  115:4-9. 

Was  this  solemn  confidence  in  Jehovah  an  easy  achievement 

489 


[XXV-2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

of  the  soul?     Had  not  the  idols  been  the  victors?     At  what 
period  had  Jehovah-worship  ever  really  "paid"  Israel? 

Psalm  119  is  "the  most  artificial  of  the  Psalms,  It  is  com- 
posed of  twenty-two  alphabetical  strophes,  in  the  order  of 
the  Hebrew  alphabet.  Each  strophe  has  eight  lines,  each  line 
beginning  with  the  letter  characteristic  of  the  strophe."  The 
author  is  apparently  one  of  the  earlier  and  nobler  legalists, 
to  whom  the  Law  was  a  delight.  Indeed  the  Law  seems 
almost  to  have  taken  the  place  of  God  in  his  thought.  He 
and  his  friends  are  persecuted  for  their  adherence  to  the 
Law,  but  in  the  Law  they  triumph.  As  upon  the  strings  of  a 
golden  harp  he  plays  upon  the  words.  Law,  Testimonies, 
Ordinances,  Precepts,  Statutes,  Commandments,  Judgments, 
"Thy  Word."  The  open  secret  of  the  singer's  life  is  this : 
"And  I  shall  walk  at  liberty,  for  I  have  sought  thy  precepts" 
(119:45). 

Let  thy  lovingkindnesses  also  come  unto  me,  O  Jehovah, 

Even  thy  salvation,  according  to  thy  word. 

So  shall  I  have  an  answer  for  him  that  reproacheth  me ; 

For  I  trust  in  thy  word. 

And    take   not   the    word   of    truth    utterly    out   of   my 

mouth ; 
For  I  have  hoped  in  thine  ordinances. 
So  shall  I  observe  thy  law  continually 
For  ever  and  ever. 
And  I  shall  walk  at  liberty ; 
For  I  have  sought  thy  precepts, 
I  will  also  speak  of  thy  testimonies  before  kings. 
And  shall  not  be  put  to  shame. 
And  I  will  delight  myself  in  thy  commandments, 
Which  I  have  loved. 
I  will  lift  up  my  hands  also  unto  thy  commandments, 

which  I  have  loved ; 
And  I  will  meditate  on  thy  statutes. — Psalm  119:41-48, 

When  Edison  was  perfecting  the  phonograph,  he  is  said 
to  have  found  it  hard  to  get  a  clear  reproduction  of  the 
letter  j.  He  would  send  into  his  instrument  the  word  specia, 
and  it  would  come  back  pecia.  And  hour  after  hour,  day 
after   day,   the  wizard   worked — why?     In  order  to   find   the 

490 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIliS         [XXV-3] 

law,  in  obedience  to  which  he  might  gain  liberty.  How  strik- 
ing is  the  expression  in  the  epistle  of  James,  "the  law  of 
liberty."  He  has  learned  how  to  live  who  has  learned,  not 
as  a  theory  but  as  a  working  principle,  that  perfect  obedience 
to  a  perfect  law  is  perfect  liberty. 

Twenty-hitb  Week,  Third  Day. 

The  fifteen  Psalms  at  the  heart  of  the  fifth  book,  namely, 
120  to  134,  are  called  Pilgrim  Songs,  or  Songs  of  Ascents. 
They  were  apparently  sung  by  the  pilgrims  in  connection 
with  the  great  festivals.  In  Psalm  120  the  singer  is  in  a 
land  remote  from  Zion,  dwelling  among  the  treacherous. 

I  am  for  peace : 

But  when  I  speak,  they  arc  for  war. — Psalm  120:7. 

In  Psalm  121  the  pilgrim  looks  toward  the  sacred  mountain, 
that  he  may  fmd  help  from  his  sleepless  guardian  God.  In 
Psalm  122  the  pilgrim  is  in  the  holy  city  itself.  "Our  feet 
are  standing  within  thy  gates,  O  Jerusalem";  and  then  the 
psalm  breaks  forth  into  a  beautiful  prayer  for  the  peace  of 
the  holy  city. 

Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem : 

They  shall  prosper  that  love  thee. 

Peace  be  within  thy  walls, 

And  prosperity  within  thy  palaces. 

For  my  brethren  and  companions'  sakes, 

I  will  now  say.  Peace  be  within  thee. 

For  the  sake  of  the  house  of  Jehovah  our  God 

I  will  seek  thy  good.— Psalm  122:6-9. 

In  Psalm  126  we  have  a  song  of  joy  in  renewed  prosperity, 
and  return  to  Zion : 

They  that  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy. 

He    that   goeth    forth    and   wecpeth,    bearing   seed    for 

Shair  doubtless    come    again    with    joy,    bringing    his 
sheaves  with  him.— Psalm  126:5,  6. 
491 


[XXV-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Among  these  pilgrim  songs  are  those  of  the  family  life, 
about  which  through  the  centuries  much  of  the  best  in  Israel's 
religion  centered  (127,  128).  The  songs  reveal  the  heart  of 
the  religious  man  of  later  Judaism.  He  has  no  pride  of 
virtue : 

If  thou,  Jehovah,  shouldest  mark  iniquities, 
O  Lord,  who  could  stand? — Psalm  130:3. 

He  has  no  pride  of  intellect  or  of  political  achievement: 

Jehovah,  my  heart  is  not  haughty,  nor  mine  eyes  lofty; 

Neither  do  I  exercise  myself  in  great  matters, 

Or  in  things  too  wonderful  for  me. 

Surely  I  have  stilled  and  quieted  my  soul ; 

Like  a  weaned  child  with  his  mother, 

Like  a  weaned  child  is  my  soul  within  me. 

— Psalm  131  :  I,  2.  * 

But  he  believes,  and  no  man  can  shake  his  belief,  that  Jehovah, 
his  God,  made  the  heaven  and  the  earth  and  that  he  is  the 
child  of  the  great  King.  And  his  enemies  are  as  dogs  that 
bark  at  the  prince  who  rides  in  the  king's  triumph-train. 

From  a  verse  of  one  of  these  pilgrim  songs,  was  framed 
the  cablegram  announcing  the  escape  of  missionaries  and 
soldiers  from  the  British  Legation  at  the  time  of  the  Boxer 
outbreak  in  China  in  1900: 

Our  soul  is  escaped  as  a  bird  out  of  the  snare  of  the 

fowlers : 
The  snare  is  broken,  and  we  are  escaped. — Psalm  124:7. 

Twenty-hfth  Week,  Fourth  Day, 

Passing  from  the  Pilgrim  Songs,  one  notes  with  special 
sympathy  the  Song  of  the  Exiles,  who  sat  down  by  the  canals 
of  Babylon  and  wept  as  they  remembered  Zion,  whose  captors 
asked  them  to  sing  them  one  of  the  songs  of  the  homeland 
of  their  souls. 

How  shall  we  sing  Jehovah's  song  , 

In  a  foreign  land? 

492 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES         [XXV-4] 

If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem, 

Let  my  right  hand  forget  her  skill. 

Let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth, 

If  I  remember  thee  not; 

If  I  prefer  not  Jerusalem 

Above  my  chief  joy. — Psalm  137  :  4-6. 

We  linger  most  willingly  and  wonderingly  upon  the  study 
of  Psalm  139,  which,  joined  with  Psalm  103,  gives  to  us  per- 
haps the  noblest  conception  of  God  ever  cherished  by  the 
Hebrew  heart  before  the  days  of  Jesus. 

0  Jehovah,  thou  hast  searched  me,  and  known  me. 
Thou  knowest  my  downsitting  and  mine  uprising; 
Thou  understandest  my  thought  afar  off. 

Thou  searchest  out  my  path  and  my  lying  down, 

And  art  acquainted  with  all  my  ways. 

For  there  is  not  a  word  in  my  tongue, 

But,  lo,  O  Jehovah,  thou  knowest  it  altogether. 

Thou  hast  beset  me  behind  and  before, 

And  laid  thy  hand  upon  me. 

Such  knowledge  is  too  wonderful  for  me ; 

It  is  high,  I  cannot  attain  unto  it. 

Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit? 

Or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence? 

If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there : 

If  I  make  my  bed  in  Sheol.  behold,  thou  art  there. 

If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning, 

And  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea; 

Even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me, 

And  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me. 

If  I  say.  Surely  the  darkness  shall  overwhelm  me, 

And  the  light  about  me  shall  be  night ; 

Even  the  darkness  hideth  not  from  thee. 

But  the  night  shineth  as  the  day : 

The  darkness  and  the  light  are  both  alike  to  thee. 

For  thou  didst  form  my  inward  parts  : 

Thou  didst  cover  me  in  my  mother's  womb. 

1  will  give  thanks  unto  thee;  for  I  am  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made : 

Wonderful  are  thy  works ; 

And  that  my  soul  knoweth  right  well. 

My  frame  was  not  hidden  from  4hee, 

When  I  was  made  in  secret, 

And  curiously  wrought  in  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth. 

493 


[XXV-4]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Thine  eyes  did  see  mine  unformed  substance; 

And  in  thy  book  they  were  all  written, 

Even  the  days  that  were  ordained  for  me, 

When  as  yet  there  was  none  of  them. 

How  precious  also  are  thy  thoughts  unto  me,  O  God  1 

How  great  is  the  sum  of  them! 

If  I  should  count  them,  they  are  more  in  number  than 

the  sand : 
When  I  awake,  I  am  still  with  thee. — Psalm  139:  1-18. 

Ruskin  was  bidden  as  a  child  to  learn  this  Psalm  by  heart; 
Webster  quoted  from  it  in  one  of  his  great  appeals.  There 
is  no  escape  for  the  psalmist  from  his  God.  Flight  to  heaven 
or  to  Sheol,  the  aid  of  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  the 
journey  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea,  avail  nothing. 
Wherever  he  flees,  he  finds  God  already  there.  The  darkness 
offers  no  protection  from  God.  "When  I  awake,  I  am  still 
with  thee." 

"I  fled  Him,  down  the  nights  and  down  the  days ; 

I  fled  Him,  down  the  arches  of  the  years; 
I  fled  Him,  down  the  labyrinthine  ways 

Of  my  own  mind;  and  in  the  midst  of  tears 
I  hid  from  Him,  and  under  running  laughter. 
Up  vistaed  hopes  I  sped; 
And  shot,  precipitated 

Adown  Titanic  glooms  of  chasmed  fears. 
From  those  strong  Feet  that  followed,  followed  after." 
— Francis  Thompson,  "The  Hound  of  Heaven." 

But  this  God  who  is  everywhere  knows  everything.  There 
is  not  a  word,  not  a  thought  of  the  psalmist,  but  God  knows 
it.    It  is  true :  "There  is  no  escape  from  God,  but  unto  him." 

But  why  should  one  wish  to  escape  from  God?  For  he 
who  sees  all,  who  knows  all,  has  made  all ;  and  the  psalmist 
knows,  as  Job  came  to  know,  that  the  God  who  formed  him 
so  wonderfully,  must  love  and  care. 

"Halts  by  me  that  footfall : 

Is  my  gloom,  after  all. 
Shade  of  His  hand,  outstretched  caressingly? 

'Ah,  fondest,  blindest,  weakest. 

I  am  He  whom  thou  seekest ! 
Thou  dravest  love  from  thee,  who  dravest  Me.'  " 

494 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES         [XXV-5] 

Perhaps  our  own  strong  and  gentle  poetess,  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe,  has  best  understood  the  message  of  this  so  noble 
psalm : 

"Still,  still  with  Thee,  when  purple  morning  breaketh. 

When  the  bird  waketh,  and  the  shadows  flee ; 
Fairer  than  morning,  lovelier  than  daylight, 

Dawns  the  sweet  consciousness,  I  am  with  Thee !  .  .  . 

So  shall  it  be  at  last,  in  that  bright  morning, 
When  the  soul  waketh,  and  life's  shadows  flee; 

O  in  that  hour,  fairer  than  daylight  dawning. 

Shall  rise  the  glorious  thought — I  am  with  Thee !" 

Did  any  of  the  psalmists  get  so  close  to  Jesus  as  to  gain 
this  vision  of  immortality?     We  shall  see   (p.  504ff.). 


Twenty-fifth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

As  we  review  the  Psalms,  do  we  find  the  old  emphases  of 
thought,  with  which  our  studies  have  made  us  familiar?  In 
some  of  the  Psalms  there  is  the  utmost  delight  in  the  sanc- 
tuary and  its  ritual. 

For  a  day  in  thy  courts  is  better  than  a  thousand. 
I  had  rather  be  a  doorkeeper  in  the  house  of  my  God, 
Than  to  dwell  in  the  tents  of  wickedness. — Psalm  84 :  10. 

The  yoke  of  the  Law  lays  no  heavy  burden  on  the  psalmists. 
Rather  it  helps  marvelously  in  the  drawing  of  the  heavy 
loads  of  life. 

The  law  of  Jehovah  is  perfect,  restoring  the  soul : 
The   testimony    of   Jehovah    is    sure,    making'  wise   the 

simple. 
The  precepts  of  Jehovah  are  right,  rejoicing  the*  heart: 
The  commandment  of  Jehovah  is  pure,  enlightening  the 

eyes. 
The  fear  of  Jehovah  is  clean,  enduring  for  ever: 
The    ordinances    of    Jehovah    are    true,    and    righteous 

altogether. 
More  to  be  desired  are  they  than  gold,  yea,  than  much 

fine  gold ; 

495 


[XXV-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Sweeter    also    than    honey    and    the    droppings    of    the 

honeycomb. 
Moreover  by  them  is  thy  servant  warned : 
In  keeping  them  there  is  great  reward. — Psalm  19:  7-11. 

The  psalmists  have  all  moved  worlds  away  from  the  early 
popular  thought  which  identified  religion  with  ceremonial. 
In  the  ancient  temple,  performing  the  well-loved  services  of 
the  sanctuary,  they  found  a  most  precious  experience  with 
God.  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  was  no  hide-bound  ecclesiastic, 
but  he  wrote  words  which  echo  the  satisfaction  of  the  Psalmist 
in  the  sanctuary : 

"We  love  the  venerable  house 
Our  fathers  built  to  God; 
In  heaven  are  kept  their  grateful  vows, 
Their  dust  endears  the  sod. 

Here  holy  thoughts  a  light  have  shed 

From  many  a  radiant   face, 
And  prayers  of  tender  hope  have  spread 

A  perfume  through  the  place. 

And  anxious  hearts  have  pondered  here 

The  mystery  of  life, 
And  prayed  the  Eternal  Spirit  clear 

Their  doubts  and  aid  their  strife. 

From  humble  tenements  around 

Came  up  the  pensive  train. 
And  in  the  church  a  blessing  found, 

Which  filled  their  homes  again. 

They  live  with  God,  their  homes  are  dust; 

J^ut  here  their  children  pray, 
And,  in  this  fleeting  lifetime,  trust 

To  find  the  narrow  wav." 

—'The  House  Our  Fathers  Built  to  God." 

In  some  of  the  Psalms  there  is  a  subordination,  even  a 
rejection,  of  sacrifice,  which  reminds  one  of  the  greatest  of 
the  prophets. 

In  Psalm  40,  in  the  midst  of  prayer  and  praise,  occur  these 
words : 

496 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES         [XXV-5] 

Sacrifice  and  offering  thou  hast  no  dehght  in  ; 

Mine  ears  hast  thou  opened : 

Burnt-oft'ering  and  sin-offering  hast  thou  not  required. 

Then  said  I,  Lo,  I  am  come ; 

In  the  roll  of  the  book  it  is  written  of  me: 

I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  O  my  God ; 

Yea,  thy  law  is  within  my  heart. — Psalm  40 :  6-8. 

In  the  great  Psalm  of  confession,  we  have  words  even  more 
radical : 

For  thou  delightest  not  in  sacrifice;  else  would  I  give  it: 
Thou  hast  no  pleasure  in  burnt-offering. 
The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit: 
A  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  O  God,  thou  wilt  not 
despise. — Psalm  51 :  16,  17. 

Yet  more  amazing  is  the  thought  of  the  divine  dismissal  of 
sacrifice  as  absurd,  a  thought  expressed  in  Psalm  50: 

I  will  take  no  bullock  out  of  thy  house, 

Nor  he-goats  out  of  thy  folds. 

For  every  beast  of  the  forest  is  mine. 

And  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills. 

I  know  all  the  birds  of  the  mountains ; 

And  the  wild  beasts  of  the  field  are  mine. 

If  I  were  hungry,  I  would  not  tell  thee; 

For  the  world  is  mine,  and  the  fulness  thereof. 

Will  I  eat  the  flesh  of  bulls, 

Or  drink  the  blood  of  goats? 

Offer  unto  God  the  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving; 

And  pay  thy  vows  unto  the  Most  High  ; 

And  call  upon  me  in  the  day  of  trouble: 

I  will  deliver  thee,  and  thou  shalt  glorify  me. 

— Psalm  50:  9-15. 

God  is  not  hungry,  that  he  needs  to  be  fed. 

Remember  the  horror  of  Joel  when,  on  account  of  the 
locusts  and  the  drought,  some  of  the  offerings  of  the  temple 
had  to  be  omitted.  Remember  how  the  Jewish  world  stood 
aghast  when,  in  the  days  of  Antiochus  IV,  the  burnt-offerings 
ceased  and  the  heathen  profaned  the  tempte.  Remember  that 
when   Pompey   entered    the   city   and   broke   into    the    temple 

497 


[XXV-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

itself,  he  found  to  his  amazement  priests  performing  still 
their  orderly  sacrifices,  while  their  brother-priests  were  being 
slain.  Recall  the  word  of  Josephus  that  in  no  siege  of  Jeru- 
salem before  the  last  had  there  been  any  interruption  of  the 
daily  sacrifice,  but  that  when  this  occurred,  A.  D.  70,  it  made 
an  awful  impression  upon  Jew  and  heathen  alike.  The  marvel 
is  that  the  sacrificial  system  did  not  bury  such  Psalms  as 
these  in  oblivion,  or  that  these  Psalms  did  not  kill  the  system. 
The  Psalms  of  ceremonial  and  the  Psalms  which  practically 
reject  ritual  have  been  preserved,  and,  with  fine  religious 
sanity,  have  been  brought  together  to  help  us  in  the  fashion- 
ing of  our  religion  and  its  fitting  garments. 

Twenty-HHh  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

What  of  the  attitude  of  the  psalmists  toward  foreign  na- 
tions? We  must  confess  that  usually  the  psalmists  share  with 
most  of  the  post-exilic  prophecies  a  vindictive  hatred  toward 
their  enemies,  the  foreigners. 

O  my  God,  make  them  like  the  whirling  dust ; 
As  stubble  before  the  wind. — Psalm  83:  13. 

Let  burning  coals  fall  upon  them : 

Let  them  be  cast  into  the  fire. 

Into  deep  pits,  whence  they  shall  not  rise. 

— Psalm  140 :  10. 

O  daughter  of  Babylon,  that  art  to  be  destroyed, 

Happy  shall  he  be,  that  rewardeth  thee 

As  thou  hast  served  us. 

Happy   shall  he  be,  that  taketh  and  dasheth   thy   little 

ones 
Against  the  rock. — Psalm  137 :  8,  9. 

Of  these  imprecatory  Psalms,  we  may  say  briefly  that : 

a.  The  morality  of  the  Old  Testament  is  confessedly  lower 
than  that  of  the  New. 

b.  These  imprecations  are  not  in  the  spirit  of  the  noblest 
Old  Testament  prophets  or  singers. 

c.  The  psalmist  who  thus  calls  down  curses  upon  his  enemy 

498 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES         [XXV-7] 

is  thinking,  not  of  himself,  but  of  the  covenant  people  of 
Jehovah.  His  enemy  is  not  his  enemy,  but  the  enemy  of 
Israel,  and  therefore  of  Israel's  God. 

For  they  speak  against  thee  wickedly. 

And  thine  enemies  take  thy  name  in  vain. 

Do  not  I  hate  them,  O  Jehovah,  that  hate  thee? 

And  am  not  I  grieved  v^^ith  those  that  rise  up  against 

thee? 
I  hate  them  with  perfect  hatred : 
They  are  become  mine  enemies. — Psalm   139:20-22. 

d.  The  writers  were  certainly,  as  a  rule,  ignorant  of  the 
future  life.  To  maintain  their  fundamental  faith  in  the  justice 
of  God  they  must  hold,  and  indeed  desire,  the  punishm.ent  of 
the  wicked  in  this  life. 

e.  The  second  decade  of  the  twentieth  century  of  the 
Christian  era  has  been  compelled  to  listen  to  not  dissimilar 
imprecations  of  Christian  people  upon  their  enemies. 

Twenty-hHb  Week,  Seventh  Day. 

From  the  sirocco  temper  of  the  imprecatory  Psalms,  we 
pass  with  wondering  joy  to  the  confident  morning  of  Psalms 
which  speak  in  prophetic  spirit  of  generous  welcome  for  the 
nations   of   the   world. 

Again  and  again  a  psalmist  will  call  the  nations  of  the  world 
to  praise  Jehovah. 

Oh  praise  Jehovah,  all  ye  nations; 

Laud  him,  all  ye  peoples. 

For  his  lovingkindness  is  great  toward  us  ; 

And  the  truth  of  Jehovah  endureth  for  ever. 

Praise  ye  Jehovah. — Psalm   117:1,  2. 

Sing  unto  God,  ye  kingdoms  of  the  earth  ; 

Oh  sing  praises  unto  the  Lord.— Psalm  68:52. 

Again,  one  sees  the  procession  of  hitherto  "heathen"  princes 
making  their  pilgrim  way  to  Jerusalem;  or  Ethiopia  calling 
to,  Jehovah. 

499 


[XXVI-i]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Because  of  thy  temple  at  Jerusalem 
Kings  shall  bring  presents  unto  thee.  .  .  . 
Princes  shall  come  out  cf  Egypt ; 

Ethiopia  shall  haste  to  stretch  out  her  hands  unto  God. 

— Psalm  68:  29,  31. 

In  Psalm  87  we  come  to  a  crowning  evidence  of  a  psalmist's 
generous,  God-illumined  vision. 

Glorious  things  are  spoken  of  thee, 

0  city  of  God. 

1  will  make  mention  of  Rahab  and  Babylon  as  among 
them  that  know  me : 

Behold,   Philistia,  and  Tyre,  with  Ethiopia : 

This  one  was  born  there. 

Yea,  of  Zion  it  shall  be  said,  This  one  and  that  one  was 

born  in  her  ; 
And  the  Most  High  himself  will  establish  her. 
Jehovah  will  count,  when  he  writeth  up  the  peoples, 
This  one  was  born  there. — Psalm  Sj :  z-^. 

Rahab — lying,  deceptive,  alluring,  monstrous  Egypt ;  Babylon 
— slayer  of  nations  and  destroyer  of  temples;  Tyre — trader 
in  merchandise  and  in  the  souls  of  men ;  Philistia,  typical 
heathen  neighbor  and  adversary :  all  these  are  mentioned 
when  Jehovah  calls  the  roll  of  citizens  of  Jerusalem.  "And 
Zion  I  will  name :   Mother.""'* 

One  has  said  of  this  passage:  "In  its  breadth  of  view  and 
fulness  of  Messianic  hope,  it  vies  with  the  greatest  of  pro- 
phetic utterances,"  Here  indeed  Zion  is  "the  Mother  of  the 
Nations."  No  hand  of  man,  the  hand  of  God  himself,  drew 
aside  the  veil  to  permit  the  psalmist  to  see  that  vision. 

Twenty-sixth  Week,  First  Day. 

Do  any  of  ^the  Psalms  give  us  a  glimpse  of  a  heaven- 
appointed  and  anointed  king,  who  shall  mediate  the  rule  of 
Jehovah  ? 

In  Psalm  2  we  have  a  picture  of  Jehovah's  Anointed,  who 


*  Probable  translation  of  verse  sa. 

500 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES       [XXVI-i] 

sits  upon  God's  holy  hill  of  Zion  and  rules  over  rebellious, 
revolting  nations,  whose  conspiracies  all  come  to  naught. 

Thou  shalt  break  them  with  a  rod  of  iron; 
Thou  shalt  dash  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel. 

— Psalm  2 :  9. 

The  only  course  for  kings  and  rulers  is  to  kiss  the  son,  lest 
he  be  angry.  "Blessed  arc  all  they  that  take  refuge  in  him." 
This  Psalm,  while  contemplating  some  known  ruler,  reaches 
out  in  thought  to  a  world  conquest  never  purposed  or  dreamed 
of  by  any  king  of  Israel.  Here,  too,  the  function  of  the 
Anointed  One  is  politieal  rather  than  religious. 

Psalm  72  gives  us  a  beautiful  picture  of  a  king  and  his 
dominion.  It  "was  originally  a  petition  for  a  king  on  his 
ascending  the  throne."  The  words  which  are  translated  so 
that  they  predict  the  sovereign's  wide  rule  of  justice  and  kind- 
ness are  probably  prayers,  as,  for  example,  in  verse  15:  "May 
he  live,  and  may  there  be  given  him  of  the  gold  of  Sheba.'"^ 
The  rabbis  regarded  the  Psalm  as  Messianic,  and  the  Chris- 
tian Church  early  took  it  over  into  her  life,  and  saw  its  ideal 
filled  full  in  Jesus.  The  Psalm  was  read  on  the  day  of  the 
Epiphany,  w^hen  the  visit  of  the  Wise  Men  to  the  infant 
Saviour  was  celebrated. 

Psalm  89  dwells  upon  God's  covenant  with  David  that  his 
seed  should  endure  forever,  and  his  throne  as  the  sun. 

Psalm  no  exalts  apparently  a  reigning  king,  who  is  at  the 
same  time  a  priest'  With  his  army  of  volunteers  he  beats 
down  his  enemies  and  fills  the  places  with  dead  bodies.  Cer- 
tainly by  the  time  of  Jesus  the  Psalm  was  regarded  as  reach- 
ing forward  beyond  any  contemporary  sovereign  to  the  Mes- 
siah. When  the  Carpenter  of  Nazareth  did  not  "strike 
through  kings,"  or  lay  the  axe  to  the  root  of  the  tree,  John 

« Int.  Com.  Psalms  II.  p.  131.  ,    ,        ,  .  ,.   ,  «,         u 

7  This  Psalm  is  now  "referred  by  many  of  the  ablest  scholars  to  Maccabean 
times."  It  may  have  been  "addressed  to  Simon  the  Maccabee,  after  he  had 
been  constituted  'ruler  and  high  priest  forever'  by  a  decree  of  the  nation  in 
the  vear  142  B.  C."— R.  H.  Charles,  "Religious  Development  between  the 
Old  and  the  New  Testaments,"  p.  78. 

501 


[XXVI-2]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

the  Baptist  questioned,  "Art  thou  he  that  cometh,  or  look  we 
for  another?" 

Twenty-sixth  Week,  Second  Day. 

While  observing  the  familiar  emphases  in  our  psalmists,  we 
hear  in  two  or  three  of  the  Psalms  a  note  seldom  heard  else- 
where in  the  Old  Testament,  the  note  of  immortality. 

In  the  Assyrian  description  of  the  afterworld,  we  have 
these  words : 

"The  house  of  darkness, 
The  house  men  enter,  but  cannot  depart  from, 
The  road  men  go  but  cannot  return. 
The  house  from  whose  dwellers  light  is  withdrawn, 
The  place  where  dust  is  their  food,  and  their  nourishment 

clay. 
The  light  they  behold  not,  in  darkness  they  dwell, 
They  are  clothed  like  birds,  all  fluttering  wings. 
On  the  door  and  the  gateposts  dust  lieth  thick." 

In  Isa.  38  we  have  a  beautiful  but  pathetic  song  put  into  the 
lips  of  King  Hezekiah,  when  he  had  recovered  from  illness. 
He  will  walk  now  as  in  solemn  procession : 

For   Sheol   cannot  praise  thee,   death  cannot  celebrate 

thee : 
They  that  go  down   into  the  pit  cannot  hope   for   thy 

truth. 
The  living,  the  living,  he  shall  praise  thee,  as  I  do  this 

day : 
The  father  to  the  children  shall  make  known  thy  truth. 

— Isa.  38 :  18,  19. 

To  the  average  Israelite  of  the  earlier  day  Sheol  was  beyond 
the  reach  of  God's  control.  We  noted  that  Job  got  a  glimpse 
of  a  return  to  life  for  vindication,  but  does  not  apparently 
grip  the  thought  of  immortality. 

Ecclesiastes,  as  we  have  seen,  thinks  of  immortality  to 
dismiss  it,  almost  with  a  sneer.  As  late  as  175  B.  C.  Ben-Sira 
— shrewd,  broad-minded,  devout — saw  his  fellow-travelers  on 
life's  journey  moving  slowly  or  swiftly  toward  Sheol.     While 

502 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES       [XXVI-3] 

he  notices  that  the  miserable  long  for  Sheol,  he  cannot  per- 
suade us  that  there  is  much  either  desirable  or  endurable  in 
the  realm  of  the  dead.  And  yet  from  Sheol  there  is  no  escape. 
Down  to  the  time,  then,  of  Ben-Sira  himself  a  Jew  could  be 
deeply  religious,  true  to  the  essential  creed  of  the  prophets 
and  sages  and  psalmists,  and  still  have  no  belief  in  the  resur- 
rection or  in  the  life  everlasting.  A  scholar  reminds  us  of 
the  ancient  answer  of  the  maiden  to  the  Babylonish  hero, 
Gilgamesh,  who  sought  immortal  life:  "Why  dost  thou  wan- 
der from  place  to  place?  The  life  which  thou  seekest  thou 
wilt  not  find.  When  the  gods  created  man,  they  fixed  death 
for  mankind.  Life  they  kept  in  their  own  hands."  The 
average  Jewish  worshiper  of  Old  Testament  times  would 
have  assented  to  that  word,  excepting  its  polytheism. 

Twenty-sixth  Week,  Third  Day. 

The  history  of  their  nation,  and  their  confidence  in  Jehovah, 
which  failed  not  even  when  history  seemed  to  jeer  at  it,  led 
all  men  of  prophetic  spirit  immediately  after  the  Exile  to  be- 
lieve in  the  unified,  glorified  Davidic  kingdom  on  the  earth. 
As  the  hope  continued  unrealized,  it  did  not  die,  but  was 
transfigured.  There  arose  the  belief  that  the  earthly  kingdom 
must  be  achieved  by  strictly  supernatural  power  and  be  endued 
with  many  supernatural  elements. 

So  small,  however,  was  the  remnant  composing  the  Jewish 
state  that  it  seemed  incredible  that  they  could  ever  achieve 
the  glorious  empire  of  the  future.  From  the  olden  times 
had  come  down  stories  telling  of  men  raised  to  life  by  contact 
with  the  living  prophet,  or  even  with  the  dead  body  of  a 
prophet.  Other  stories  told  of  great  men  who  had  evaded 
death  altogether.  The  thought  of  national  resurrection  which 
Ezekiel  had  made  a  commonplace  may  have  helped  to  furnish 
the  language  and  foster  the  thought  of  individual  resurrection. 
That  the  kingdom  of  the  future  may  have  a  population  worthy 
of  its  glory,  the  righteous  men  of  the  past  must  rise  from  the 
dead. 

503 


[XXVI-3]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

Still  further,  the  fundamental  proposition  of  the  Hebrew 
faith  was  this :  that  Jehovah  was  strong  and  righteous.  But 
multitudinous  events  in  Hebrew  history  did  seem  to  refute 
that  faith.  The  assurance  of  life  after  death  became  in- 
creasingly essential  to  men  who  would  at  once  hold  their 
faith  and  face  the  facts. 

A  yet  more  important  factor  was  helping  men  of  purest 
religion  to  gain  the  hope  of  life  everlasting.  As  they  enjoyed 
the  sublime  and  satisfying  fellowship  of  God,  they  realized 
the  hideous  incongruity  of  the  close  of  such  fellowship.  Shall 
a  chance  arrow,  a  fall,  the  sudden  stopping  of  the  heartbeat, 
lose  to  God's  friend  God's  fellowship?  That  would  be  incon- 
gruous, absurd,  incredible. 

In  our  study  of  Daniel  aijd  the  literature  of  the  last  two 
pre-Christian  centuries,  we  have  seen  that  the  conviction  of 
the  resurrection  and  of  the  life  after  death  became  immensely 
influential.  But  down  through  the  Greek  period,  the  psalmists 
had  little  of  previous  teaching  on  immortality  upon  which  to 
build  their  own  hope. 

In  Isa.  26:19  we  have  the  words:  "Thy  dead  shall  live; 
my  dead  bodies  shall  arise.  Awake  and  sing,  ye  that  dwell  in 
the  dust;  for  thy  dew  is  as  the  dew  of  herbs,  and  the  earth 
shall  cast  forth  the  dead."  But  many  commentators  believe 
that  these  words  do  not  carry  us  beyond  the  thought  of  na- 
tional resurrection. 

A  wonderful  personal  hope  seems  to  find  expression  in  Isa. 
25  :  8a :  "He  hath  swallowed  up  death  forever ;  and  the  Lord 
Jehovah  will  wii)e  away  tears  from  off  all  faces."  But,  aside 
from  the  book  of  Daniel  and  the  Psalms,  these  two  passages 
are  practically  the  only  ones  which  express  even  dubiously  a 
hope  of  permanent  victory  over  death. 

As  we  would  expect,  the  usual  view  of  the  psalmists  is  that 
death  introduces  one  to  Sheol,  where  communion  with  Jehovah 
ends  forever : 

For  in  death  there  is  no  remembrance  of  thee: 
In  Sheol  who  shall  give  thee  thanks? 

—Psalm  6:  5  (C/.  30:9)- 

504 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES       [XXVI-4] 

I  am  reckoned  with  them  that  go  down  into  the  pit ; 
I  am  as  a  man  that  hath  no  help, 
Cast  off  among  the  dead, 
Like  the  slain  that  lie  in  the  grave, 
Whom  thou  rememberest  no  more, 
And  they  are  cut  off  from  thy  hand.  .  .  . 
Wilt  thou  show  wonders  to  the  dead? 
Shall  they  that  are  deceased  arise  and  praise  thee? 
Shall  thy  lovingkindness  be  declared  in  the  grave? 
Or  thy  faithfulness  in  Destruction? 
Shall  thy  wonders  be  known  in  the  dark? 
And  thy  righteousness  in  the  land  of  forgetfulness? 

—Psalm  88 :  4,  5,  10-12. 

Twenty-sixth  Week,  Fourth  Day. 

There  are  some  Psalms  which  wrest  from  death  its  victory, 
and  take  captivity  captive.  In  Psalm  16  God's  man  finds  his 
refuge  in  God.  His  friends  are  God's  friends,  his  inheritance 
is  God.  Having  God  he  has  all  things.  The  goal  of  his  hope 
is  life  after  death,  in  the  presence  of  his  God. 

I  have  set  Jehovah  always  before  me: 
Because  he  is  at  my  right  hand.  I  shall  not  be  moved. 
Therefore  my  heart  is  glad,  and  my  glory  rejoiceth: 
My  flesh  also  shall  dwell  in  safety. 
For  thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  to  Sheol ; 
Neither  wilt  thou  suffer  thy  holy  one  to  see  corruption. 
Thou  wilt  show  me  the  path  of  life: 
In  thy  presence  is  fulness  of  joy; 
In  thy  right  hand  there  are  pleasures  for  evermore. 

— Psalm  16:  8-11. 

In  Psalm  49  the  singer  has  been  compassed  by  cunning  foes, 
who  trust  in  their  wealth.  But  he  is  not  anxious  or  afraid; 
and  this  for  two  reasons : 

a.  Not  one  of  these  rich  men  can  save  himself  from  death 
by  giving  a  ransom  to  God. 

"Surely  no  man  can  by  any  means  redeem  himself, 
Or  give  to  God  the  ransom  he  requires — 
That  he  should  live  forevermore, 
And  not  see  the  pit: 

For  too  costly  is  the  redemption  of  man's  life, 
And  one  must  cease  [from  that  effort]  forever.  .  .  . 

505 


[XX\'I-5]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

The  fool  and  the  brutish  perish  together. 
And  leave  their  wealth  to  others. 
The  grave  is  their  home  forever.  .  .  . 
Though  they  called  lands  by  their  names."* 

They  had  vast  estates  on  which  to  perpetuate  their  names, 
but  they  will  have  each  just  six  feet  of  earth  in  which  to  lie, 
above  which  their  tombstones  may  be  chiseled  with  those 
precious  names  of  theirs. 

b.  While  Death  is  the  shepherd  of  the  wicked,  leading  them 
to  Sheol, 

"Surely  God  will  redeem  my  soul  from  the  hand  of  Sheol, 
For  he  will  take  me  [to  himself]."* 

The  psalmist  believes  what  Job  learned — that  character  has 
value  in  the  eyes  of  God :  but  facts  seem  to  contradict  faith. 
Fact^  seem  sometimes  to  jest  with  a  righteous  man,  and  to 
state  ven.-  baldly  that  the  wicked  are  prime  favorites  with  God. 
The  psalmist  is  not  greatly  concerned  to  see  that  his  enemies 
suffer,  or  that  he  survives.  He  is  concerned  that  his  God. 
whom  he  has  trusted,  should  not  betray  His  own  character, 
deny  Himself.  The  hand  which  he  has  learned  to  lean  upon 
he  knows  will  rescue  him  from  the  realm  of  helpless  shades, 
the  fitting  home  of  the  wicked. 

Twenty-sixth  Week,  Fifth  Day. 

In  Psalm  73  the  writer  has  faced  with  an  open  mind  the 
lamentable  inequalities  of  life,  which  had  harassed  the  faith 
of  Job.  He  realizes,  however,  that  if  he  should  talk  in  a 
skeptical  vein,  he  would  undermine  the  faith  of  his  friends. 

If  I  had  said,  I  will  speak  thus: 

Behold,  I  had  dealt  treacherously  with   the  generation 
of  thy  children. — Psalm  73:  15. 

At  last  faith  triumphs.  In  the  g^eat  sanctuarj-  he  sees  that 
the  wicked  stand  in  slipper>-  places. 


s  Transiation  by  McFadyn- 


506 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES       [XXVI-5] 

As  a  dream  when  one  awaketh, 

So,  O  Lord,  when  thou  awakest,  thou  wilt  despise  their 
image. — Psahn  73  :  20. 

But  Job's  three  friends  had  seen  as  much  as  this.  This  man 
does  more.  Like  Job  himself,  he  comes  through  to  God,  takes 
God's  hand  in  the  darkness,  is  lifted  up  and  strengthened. 
While  Job  contemplates  a  return  to  life  simply  for  vindication, 
this  man  is  conquered  by  the  sublime  conviction  that  God's 
love  will  not  let  him  go.  The  man  who  has  entered  into  vital 
and  vitalizing  communion  with  God  is  not  going  to  be 
banished  from  him  by  the  incident  we  call  death.  Rather  he 
would  say,  "I  came  from  God,  and  am  going  back  to  God, 
and  I  will  have  no  gaps  in  the  middle  of  my  life."  A  father 
carries  his  child  upstairs.  Is  he  going  to  let  his  child  fall 
out  of  his  arms?  A  man  casts  himself  with  the  trust  of  a 
little  child  into  the  everlasting  arms.  Is  God  going  to  let  him 
fall  out  of  His  arms  into  chaos  and  the  night?  The  path  of 
the  psalmist's  thought  leads  us  to  Jesus  with  his  words,  "God 
is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living."  Relationship 
with  God  means  immortality.'" 

So  brutish  was  I,  and  ignorant; 
I  was  as  a  beast  before  thee. 
Nevertheless  I  am  continually  with  thee : 
Thou  hast  holden  my  right  hand. 
Thou  wilt  guide  me  with  thy  counsel, 
And  afterward  receive  me  to  glory. 
Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  thee? 
And  there  is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  besides  thee. 
My  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth ; 

But  God  is  the  strength  of  my  heart  and  my  portion 
for  ever. — Psalm  73  :  22-26. 

Concluding  Note 

In  the  Psalms  "the  innermost  soul  of  the  Jewish  race  is 
laid  bare."  Every  grief  and  joy,  every  doubt  and  conviction, 
every  fear  and  hope,  known  to  the  heart  of  the  religious  Jew, 
are  here.     But  the  Psalms  are  not  alone  the  self-revelation 


*  The  assurance  of  personal  life   after  death  is  denied    by  some  writers  to 
the  authors  of  Psalms  l6,  49,  and  73. 


[XXVI-6]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

of  the  soul  of  a  race.  To  a  remarkable  degree  they  are  the 
songs  of  the  eternal  religion.  Today  a  religious  man  reads 
them,  and  finds  in  them  the  biography  of  his  own  soul,  dis- 
covers the  utterance  of  thoughts  which  he  has  cherished,  for 
which  he  could  find  no  words. 

And  more  than  this :  when  a  religious  man  is  told  by  wise 
fools  that  there  is  no  God,  when  he  is  informed  by  self-styled 
sages  that  he  is  but  a  "Child  of  a  thousand  chances,  'neath  the 
indifferent  sky,"  he  turns  to  the  Psalms  again,  thinks  of  the 
baffled  hopes,  the  nameless  sorrows,  the  long  tragedy  of  the 
Jew ;  and  the  victorious  faith  of  the  Psalmists  becomes  his, 
the  "solemn  confidence"  which  sings, 

Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow 

of  death, 
I  will  fear  no  evil ;  for  thou  art  with  me  .  .  . 
Surely  goodness  ^nd  lovingkindness  shall  follow  me  all 

the  days  of  my  life : 
And  I  shall  dwell  in  the  house  of  Jehovah  for  ever. 

— Psalm  23  :  4,  6. 


Twenty-sixth  Week,  Sixth  Day. 

It  has  recently  been  insisted  that  men,  filled  with  faith  in  a 
God  who  is  strong  and  wise  and  good,  the  giver  of  immor- 
tality, become  quietists.  It  has  been  insisted  that  these  men 
sit  and  sing  themselves  away  to  everlasting  bliss,  while  millions 
die  for  the  freedom  of  the  world,  and  millions  are  still  the 
slaves  of  famine  and  of  fear.  On  the  other  hand,  it  can  be 
demonstrated  that  men  with  the  religion  of  the  psalmists 
have  been  the  creators,  the  revolutionists,  the  discoverers  of 
the  world.  It  is  they  who  share  the  spirit  of  Columbus.  And 
our  study  of  their  words  may  not  unworthily  end  with  the 
song  sung  of  him  who  found  the  New  World: 

"Behind  him  lay  the  gray  Azores, 
Behind  the  Gates  of  Hercules; 
Before  him  not  the  ghost  of  shores, 
Before  him  only  shoreless  seas. 

508 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES       [XXVI-6] 

The  good  mate  said :  'Now  must  we  pray, 

For  lo !  the  very  stars  are  gone. 
Brave  Admiral,  speak,  what  shall  I   say?' 

'Why,  say,  "Sail  on !  sail  on !  and  on !"'... 

They  sailed  and  sailed,  as  winds  might  blow, 

Until  at  last  the  blanched  mate  said, 
'Why,  now  not  even  God  would  know 

Should  I  and  all  my  men  fall  dead. 
These  very  winds   forget  their  way, 

For  God  from  these  dread  seas  is  gone. 
Now  speak,  brave  Admiral,  speak  and  say' — 

He  said:  'Sail  on!  sail  on!  and  on!' 

They  sailed.    They  sailed.    Then  spake  the  mate: 

'This  mad  sea  shows  his  teeth  tonight. 
He  curls  his  lip,  he  lies  in  wait, 

With  lifted  teeth,  as  if  to  bite! 
Brave  Admiral,  say  but  one  good  word : 

What  shall  we  do  when  hope  is  gone?' 
The  words  leapt  like  a  leaping  sword : 

'Sail  on  !  sail  on  !  sail  on  !  and  on  !' 

Then,  pale  and  worn,  he  kept  his  deck. 

And  peered  through  darkness.    Ah,  that  night 
Of  all  dark  nights!    And  then  a  speck — 

A  light!  a  light!  a  light!  a  light! 
It  grew,  a  starlit  flag  unfurled! 

It  grew  to  be  Time's  burst  of  dawn. 
He  gained  a  world  ;  he  gave  that  world 

Its  grandest  lesson  :  'On  !  sail  on  !'  " 

— Joaquin  Aliller,  "Columbus." 


QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW  AND  DISCUSSION 

1.  On  the  coming  Sabbath  observe  how  many  times  the 
Psalms  are  used  in  the  morning  worship  of  the  Church.  How 
do  you  account  for  their  persistent  popularity  among  us 
Christians? 

2.  Do  you  find  that  religious  ceremonies  and  "services"  help 
or  hinder  your  religion? 

3.  Do  you  think  that  churchmen  are  tempted  to  identify 
religion  with  church  attendance  and  "going  to  meetings"? 

509 


[XXVI-7]  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIEXCE  OF  ISRAEL 

4.  Have  you  considered  the  fact  that  in  Christian  churches 
and  in  modern  Jewish  sanctuaries  there  is  no  sacrifice?  How- 
would  you  explain  this  ? 

5.  Compare  and  contrast  the  foundations  of  your  faith  in 
the  future  life  with  those  which  seem  to  have  served  the 
psalmists. 

6.  Do  you  think  that  the  doctrine  of  the  future  life  tends 
to  lessen  a  believer's  interest  in  present  social  reform? 

Twenty-sixth  Week,  Seventh  Day. 
Conclusion 

The  Old  Testament  is  a  record  of  the  increasing  self- 
revelation  of  God.  It  is  also  the  record  of  the  supreme  pre- 
Christian  campaign  of  faith  on  behalf  of  the  liberty  of  men. 
The  forces  of  man's  enslavement  have  ever  been  ignorance 
and  injustice,  with  their  cohorts  of  misery  and  cruelty, 
formalism,  superstition,  and  vice.  And  it  has  been  ours  to 
watch  the  heroes  of  faith  as  they  have  indeed  dared  all,  borne 
all.  done  all,  for  their  people  and  their  God. 

"Admire  heroes,  if  thou  wilt,"  says  one,  "but  only  admire, 
and  thou  remainest  a  slave.  Learn  their  secret,  to  commit 
thyself  to  God  and  to  obey  him.  and  thou  shalt  become  a 
hero,  too."  The  long  fight  for  human  liberty  did  not  end 
with  the  close  of  the  last  century  before  Christ.  Jesus  did 
not  liv^  and  die  in  vain.  Upon  him  rested  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  because  the  Lord  anointed  him  to  preach  good  tidings 
to  the  poor,  sent  him  to  proclaim  release  to  the  captives,  re- 
covering of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them  that  were 
bruised,  to  proclaim  the  acceptable  year,  of  the  Lord.  Nor 
did  the  long  fight  end  with  Jesus*  death.  When  on  the  cross 
our  Master  cried,  "It  is  finished,"  the  work  of  us,  his  follow- 
ers, began.  Under  the  leadership  of  our  great  Captain  Christ, 
it  is  ours  to  join  the  liberators  of  the  world,  fighting  ignorance 
with  alert  minds  and  reasoned  faith  in  a  living  and  loving 
God,  in  whose  companionship  is  life  eternal;  fighting  injustice 

510 


SONGS  OF  THE  CENTURIES        [XXVI-7] 

with  the  justice  and  the  lovingkindness  of  God.  It  is  ours 
to  lift  the  artificial  burdens  from  the  hearts  and  the  shoulders 
of  men,  until  at  last  all  men  everywhere  shall  "have  a  fair 
chance  at  all  good  things,"  until  at  last  all  men  everywhere 
shall  stand  free,  with  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  childrerf  of 
God.      ■ 

Then  the  eyes  of  the  blind  shall  be  opened,  and  the 
ears  of  the  deaf  shall  be  unstopped.  Then  shall  the 
lame  man  leap  as  a  hart,  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb 
shall  sing;  for  in  the  wilderness  shall  waters  break  out, 
and  streams  in  the  desert.  And  the  glowing  sand  shall 
become  a  pool,  and  the  thirsty  ground  springs  of  water: 
in  the  habitation  of  jackals,  where  they  lay,  shall  be 
grass  with  reeds  and  rushes.  And  a  highway  shall  be 
there,  and  a  way,  and  it  shall  be  called  The  way  of 
holiness ;  the  unclean  shall  not  pass  over  it ;  but  it  shall 
be  for  the  redeemed :  the  wayfaring  men,  yea  fools, 
shall  not  err  therein.  No  lion  shall  be  there,  nor  shall 
any  ravenous  beast  go  up  thereon ;  they  shall  not  be 
found  there;  but  the  redeemed  shall  walk  there:  and 
the  ransomed  of  Jehovah  shall  return,  and  come  with 
singing  unto  Zion ;  and  everlasting  joy  shall  be  upon 
their  heads:  they  shall  obtain  gladness  and  joy,  and 
sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away. — Isa.  35 :  5-10. 


511 


INDEX  OF  SCRIPTURE  PASSAGES  DISCUSSED 


PAGE 

Genesis 

i:i-8 i8 

2:  4-25 22 

3:4-13 23 

3:14-21 26 

4:  2-10 29 

5:7 30 

7:1-5,17-19 32 

8:  1-4 32 

9:20-27 34 

11:  1-9 , 36 

12:  1-9 40 

12:  10-20 48 

13:6-11 42 

14:8-23 45 

17:4-10 52 

18:22-33 47 

20 48 

22:1-14 50 

25:28-34 55 

27:19-27 54 

27:34-40 56 

28:  10-19 58 

31:22-32 57 

32 :  22-30 60 

35:1-7 62 

37:1-4 63 

37:9-11 •••  64 

45:1-5 65 

46:29,30 64 

47:7-10 63 

47 :  20-25 66 

Exodus 

1:8-14 74 

2:11-15 76 

3:2-8 .• 77 

3:13-15 78 

4:10-17 79 

5:1-9 82 

12:  1-9 85 


PAGE 

12:29 83 

14:9-21 87 

18:  17-24 89 

20:2-17 95 

20:22 — 23:19 102 

33:7-11 108 

34 loi 

Leviticus  19 331 

Numbers 

13:25-33 91 

14:40-45 109 

32:1-23 93 

Deuteronomy 

5:  12-15 100 

12:  2-9 268 

13:6-9 267 

17:  15-20 267 

24:  17,  18 267 

32:  10-12 196 

'      34:  1-7 109 

Joshua 

6:  12-15 116 

7:  19-26 125 

14:  6-12 118 

Judges 

5 "9 

6:  11-18 122 

16:  15-20 124 

17:  18.  . 126 

Ruth  i:  i6-i9a 37 1 

I  Samuel 

9:  15-21 134 

15:  17-23 '36 

26:  8-12 144 

31:1-4 137 

13 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 

PAGE  PAGE 

II  Samuel  Esther 

1 :  17-27 138  4:  13-17 422 

5:  6-10 140  9:  11-16 421 

12:  1-13 143 

18:31-33 143  Job 

23:13-17 145  3:11-22 376 

5:17-26 377 

TT^.  8:3-10 378 

I  Kings  8:  13,  14,  21 379 

4:29-34 154  9:12,21,22 380 

6-37-38 152  11:7,8,14-16 379 

9--^6-28 153  13:3^:7,9 381 

11:3-8 154  14 382 

12:13-17 155  19 383 

12:26-33 158  28:12-28 385 

]f-  f-f ]f  31:  29-37 387 

16:  8-28 164  33.  i4_28 388 

;8;?7b^4:::::::::::  J77     ^^^^-^^^^^ ''' 

2^=^7-21 180  2::::::::::::::::::  50? 

22:5-12 173         ^- 

22:13,14,24-28 175  J.^ .....504 

5 474 

II  Kings  ^  8 474 

1:1-8 182*  II 475 

5:9-14 185  ^5 475 

5:  15-19 187  16 505 

6:  24—7:  20 184  18 476 

10:30 183  19:7-11 496 

12:  17-18 190  22 477 

14:5,6 192  23 508 

14:  8-10 189  40:  1-3 473 

14:22-24 191  40:6-8 497 

i6:7-9a 233  46:9,10 482 

16:10-12 236  47:2-9 481 

18:13-16 240  49 505 

21:2-7 258  50:  9-15 497 

22:8-13 266  51:1-7 481 

23 269  55:  12-14 482 

23:13,14 154  62:11,12 480 

23:  28-30 276  ^5:  6-13 480 

68:29-31 500 

72 501 

Neheiniah  2 :  1-6 362  73 506 

514 


INDEX   OF  SCRIPTURE   PASSAGES  DISCUSSED 


PAGE 

73:17-20 485 

77-7-^3 484 

84:  1-7 485 

85:  10-13 484 

87 500 

88:4,5, 10-12 505 

97:  II 488 

97:1,2 486 

103:3,4,  10-17 487 

104:  1-9 487 

107:  15-16 489 

no 501 

115:4-9 489 

117:  1-2 499 

119 490 

122:  6-9 491 

125:  1,2 489 

126:5,6 491 

131:  1.2 492 

137:4-6 493 

137:8,9 498, 

139:  1-18 494 

139:20-22 499 

140:  10 498 

Proverbs 

3:  13-24 433 

4:23 434 

8:22-31 436 

9:  1-6 435 

14:30 437 

23:29-35 440 

24:  II,  12 441 

24:30-34 439 

25:6,7,21,22 442 

30:  7-9 443 

30:24-28 444 

31:4-7 445 

31:24-31 445 

Ecclcsiastcs 

3:18-21 425 

4:9-12 428 

5:1-5 424 

7:13,14 425 

9:7-10 428 

12:  1-8 429 


Isaiah 

I 

2:2-4 

5:  1,2,7 

5:8-12,  18-23 

1-8 

3^ 


PAGE 

•  244 
412 

•  231 
230 

.    229 

•  232 

•  234 

.   40f) 


1-7 

17-22 340 

19:23-25 406 

20:  1-6 239 

25:8 504 

28:  1-19 237 

31:  1-3 238 

35:5-10 511 

36—37 242 

38:  18,  19 502 

40:  i-ii 314 

40:  12 319 

40:29-31 321 

42:  1-4,6,7 337 

43:2,  10-13,25 320 

44:  14-17,  19,20 321 

44:  21,  22 320 

45:  1-5 316 

46:3,4 321 

49:5,6 337 

50:4-11 339 

53:4-6 339 

53:  II,  12 340 

54:  11-14 322 

56 :  6-8 405 

58:3-9 404 

58:  13,  14 403 

60:  II,  12,  14 405 

61:  1-3 431 

65:3-5,7 411 

65 :  20 407 


Jeremiah 

I 

7: 12-15. .  .  . 
7:17,18.... 
7:22,23...  . 


286 
291 
290 

2i)2 


9:23,24 293 


515 


RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCE  OF  ISRAEL 


1-5-  • 
16,17 
19-21 

7^-  • 


PAGE 

.  287 
•  293 
.  288 
.    287 


12: 
13: 

20: 

21:3-5,8-10 297 

22:  10-12 276 

26:  16-19 252 

31:31-34. 327 

32:  14,  15 ••••  311 

36:  20-28 295 

38:7-13 298 

43:  1-7 299 

44:  15-19 300 


Amos 

1:3-5 

2:6-8 

2:  14-16. . 
3:2-8.... 
3:  12—4:3 

4:4,5 

5: 1-17... 
5:18-25.. 
7:  10-12. . 
8:11-13.. 

9:  1-4 

9:7 


PAGE 

.  205 
.  205 
.  206 
.  206 
.  209 
.  210 
.  210 
.  211 
.  204 
•  215 
.  214 
.  216 


Lamentations  2:  17-21 .  .  .   309       Obadiah  i :  3,  4,  15 335 


Ezekiel 

16 

18: 20-25 
24:  15-18 
27:  26,  27 
34:23,24, 
36:25-27 


317 

323 

311 

333 

344 

328 

36:22-38 325 

313 

330 


37: i-io. 
47: 1-12. 

Daniel 


..   457 
2:44.45 459 

..  458 
.  .  460 
..  459 


7 

7:  13,  14,21,22 

1 1 :  36-39 


Hosea 

2:  15 224 

3:  1-4 218 

4:  1-6 201 

7:  6-9 201 

9:  10-17 222 

11:1-3 22b 

13:  13-16 223 


Joel 

1:6,  7.  . 
2:4-9.  . 
2:  12-16, 


Jonah 
1:4-9. 
3:ioff. 

Micah 

*  3: 1-4. 

3:8... 
5:2-4. 
6:6-8. 


Nahum 


2:8—3:7 

Habakkuk 
1:2-4... 
1:5-10.  . 
i:  13-17- 
2 :  2-4 .  .  . 
3:17-19. 


Zephaniah 

I 

1 :  14-16 


398 
400 


249 
251 
409 
249 


271 

273 


279 
280 
281 
283 
284 


261 
263 


Haggai 

393     1:2-11 351 

393    2:3,  5b-9 352 

395    2:22,23 355 

516 


INDEX   OF  SCRIPTURE   PASSAGES  DISCUSSED 


PAGE 

Zechariah 

4:6-10 353 

7:8-10 352 

8:  21-22 354 

9:9-10 417 

14:  16-21 418 

Malachi 

1 355 

3:  10-12 358 

Matthew 

3:9 372 

5:5 36 

11:  28 419 

13:  16,  17 422 

15:  18-20 434 

Luke 

14:7-11 442 

22:  15-20 86 

John 

1:51 59 

4:21,23 271 

12 :  24 302 

13:3-5 36 

14:6 59 

17:3 293 


PAGE 

Romans 

i:  17 283 

4:3 53 

8:31-34 339 

8:38,39 285 

10— II 318 

12:  20 442 

I  Corinthians  5:7 86 

II  Corinthians 

3:5,6 328 

3:  12-18 lOI 

PhiUppians  2:5-11 342 

Galatians 

3:6 53 

3:  II 283 

4:21-31 49 

Hebrews 

5—7 45 

11:7 33 

11:8 42 

11:13 52 

11:24,25 75 

Revelation 

1:5 •••  410 

7:9 37 


517 


BRIEF  INDEX  OF  PROPER  NAMES 


PAGE 

Abel 29 

Abraham 40  ff. 

Achan 126,  224 

Achor,  Valley  of 125,  224 

Ahab 167,  180 

Ahaz 231  ff. 

Alexander  the  Great.  .414,  421 

Amaziah  (Judah) 189-192 

Amos 199,  202-217 

Antiochus  IV.  .  .  .452,  454-459 
Apocalyptic  Literature ....  463 
Assyrian  Kings: 

Ashurbanipal 257,  271 

Asshurnazirpal 166 

Esarhaddon 257,  259 

Sargon  II 227,  239 

Sennacherib 239  ff . 

Shalmaneser 188 

Tiglathpileser  III..  .228,  232 
Athaliah 189,  191 

Babel 35 

Ben-hadad  (Damascus) .  .  .  167 
Bethel 58,  158,  196,  214 

Cain 29 

Chaldean  Rulers: 

Belshazzar 315 

Nabopolassar 277 

Nebuchadrezzar 

278,296,314 

Chaldeans 277,  296 

Caleb 91,  118 

Carchemish,  Battle  of 278 

Chronicles,  Books  of 

303,431,449 

Damascus 165 

Daniel .' 456-461,  504 

David 130,  139-149,  198 

Deborah 119 


PAGE 

Deuteronomy,  Book  of ...  . 

265,  276 
Dispersion,  The 416 

Ecclesiastes,  Book  of 

423-430,  449,  502 

Ecclesiasticus 452 

Egyptian  Rulers: 

Amenhotep  IV 73 

Merneptah  IV 81 

Necho  II 275-278 

Psammetichus 264 

Ptolemy  I 402,  415 

Ramses  II 74 

Sethos 243 

Elephantine 360 

Elijah 176,  198,  199 

Elisha 182-188,  198,  199 

Enoch 31 

Enoch,  Book  of 464-466 

Esau 55 

Esther,  Book  of 420,  449 

Ezekiel.  .296,  311,  324,  328, 

343,  346,  503 
Ezra 367 

Gideon 121 

Habakkuk 256,  278-285 

Haggai 349-355 

Hammurabi 39,  103 

Hasmonean  Dynasty 462 

Hazael 190 

Hebron 52,  140,  196 

Herod '462 

Hezekiah 238  ff . 

Hiram  (of  Tyre) 152 

Hosea 199,  201,  217-227 

Isaac 49-54 

Isaiah 199,  227-247,  279 

Jacob 53  ff. 


518 


BRIEF  INDEX  OF  PROPER  NAMES 


PAGE 

Jamnia,  Council  of. .  5,  423,  448 

Jason... 454 

Jehoiachin 296,  314 

Jehoiakim.  .  .256,  276,  290,  296 

Jehoshaphat 1 89 

Jehovah,  Origin  of  word  .  .  7,  78 

Jehu 187 

Jeremiah 

256,  285-303,  310,  326 

Jericho 114 

Jeroboam  1 151 

Jeroboam  II 200 

Jerusalem 140,  196,  etc. 

Jezebel 169 

Joab 142 

Job 372-392,502 

Joel • 392-397 

Jonah 397-401 

Joseph 64  ff. 

Joshua 1 14  ff. 

Josiah 

256,  262,  266,  269,  275,  290 

Jubilees,  Book  of 464 

Judas  Maccabeus..  .  .455,  460 

Karkar,  Battle  of 15,  168 

Lot 42 

Maccabees 14,  454 

Malachi 355-36o 

Manasseh 256  ff. 

Marathon,  Baj^^^le  of 356 

Massoretes 4 

Megiddo 275 

Melchizedek 45 

Micah,  priest 127 

Micah,  prophet. .  .  199,  247-254 

Micaiah I74.  I99 

Moabite  Stone 165 

Moses 76-112 

Naaman 185 

Nahum 256,271 

Nathan. 146,  I99 

Nehemiah. 361-366 


PAGE 

Nineveh 272,  398 

Noah 32 

Obadiah 334 

Omri 164 

Persian  Rulers: 

Artaxerxes  1 356 

Cambyses 350 

Cyrus 315,349 

Darius  I 350,  355 

Xerxes 356 

Plataea,  Battle  of 356 

Pompcy 462 

Prophetic  Guild,  The 171 

Proverbs,  Book  of 

432-447,  449 
Psalms,  Book  of 469  ft. 

Rehoboam 155 

Ruth 369 

Salamis,  Battle  of 356 

vSamaria 164,  227 

Samaritans 364,  402 

Samson 123 

vSamuel 130,  199 

Sanballat 364 

Saul 133 

vScythians 264,  290 

Shiloh 291 

vSolomon I5I-I55 

vSong  of  Solomon 447 

Tckoa 202 

Uzziah 228  ff. 

Wisdom  of  Solomon 466 

Zechariah 352-355 

Zcdckiah 296 

Zephaniah. .....  .256,  261-265 

Zcrubbabel 353,354 


519 


